Kingdom Hearts III: Between Nothing and Darkness
by SnakeStaff0150
Summary: When Roxas and Namine wake with much of their memory gone, and in a dark and strange land, by most people's standards they'd be considered already dead. But there is a red haired stranger...and he seems vaugly familiar...Set one year afterKingdom Hearts2
1. Chapter 1: Evil Tidings

The last thing he remembered was an awful laugh. The man the laugh came from sounded very much insane at that point, he remembered thinking "Alright you two, I'm about to tear out most of your memories. I'm not exactly sure what'll be left over, but I'm fairly certain it won't be much but the basics. Well, I tire of this chatter. Bye-bye now. Good luck in The World That Never Was, or at least, what's left of it. Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha haa…" And then, it went blank.

When he woke up, his head throbbed. "Fuck…my head is pounding. Uuugggg…Where am I? An even better question, WHO am I?" A flood of memories surfaced to tell him who he was. "Alright…I am Roxas, a Nobody, and a member of Organization 13. Or is it Ex-member? First I remember me fighting heartless to fulfill the Xemnas' master plan…but then I was in Twilight town, hanging out with my friends there…And better yet, what IS a Nobody in the first place?" Roxas had so many questions, yet there were no answers in his jumbled mind. There were scraps of memories jumbled all over the place, fluttering around like torn shreds of paper. He needed to get some clarity; some guidance…and he needed open his eyes.

He did so, and then sat up. His body ached, and he felt…empty. Like, there was something missing…but he decided not to ponder it too hard. Right now, his main concern was figuring out where he was and finding Namine-"Wait, finding who?" he asked himself. His memories answered that she was…more than a friend, and she had helped him when he was attacked in Twilight Town. And…she…was some sort of a witch…helping the Organization…do something important. All he knew was that he needed to find her. He then took a look at his surroundings. He was in a park of some sort, except all the trees in it were dead and withered. And…"Oh my god…are those…dead bodies?" Hanging from nooses on every single tree, they hung, silent and still as the grave. They weren't human dead bodies, not to say the least. Some were shadow like figures, some pure shadow, others in armor of some sort, still others small and colored red or blue. "Heartless. They are called Heartless, those shadow things." He said remembering the missions he did with the Organization. Others…were also not human, but they where white and grey…"hmmm…I know what they're called, and it starts with an N…N-something." He looked over this scene of death around him and shuddered, and forced himself to look at his other surroundings.

The park was surrounded by tall buildings of various shapes, but in general they looked bleak. They all where some shade of black, and most all of them where torn apart and in a state of neglect. One even collapsed, much to Roxas' surprise. As he looked about, he spotted a blonde haired figure in a black robe. "That's the Organization's uniform…and that's-Namine!" he ran up to her. "Namine! Are you alright? Did something happen to you?" he asked, panicking a bit. She groaned a bit, and opened her eyes to reveal dazzling blue irises. "Who…Roxas? Where are we?"She sat up and focused her eyes "And who-oh, I'm Namine…but…why are you dressed the Organization's uniform? Didn't you leave the Organization? Or did you…?"

"I…don't really know…but one thing I know for sure is that we can't stay here…I just have a bad feeling about this place…" he looked over at the corpses hanging from the trees. Namine gasped when she saw them. "Are those…?"

_SNAP!_ One of the nearby tree branches broke, and the white N-thing hanging from it fell to the ground with a sickening _thuk._ Namine jumped to her feet and screamed, horrified at what happened right in front of her eyes. Roxas rose and wrapped his arms around her, and she then squeezed him tightly. It felt good to hold Namine, it made all the horrid stuff around them…kinda go away. And then he remembered something. Something that greatly confused him.

Roxas remembered a time before when he had embraced Namine as such, and that it made all the struggles beforehand (what struggles, however, he had no idea. He just remembered what he was thinking that at the time.) worth it. But…Namine wasn't the Namine that was asking him "what's wrong?" right in front of him. She…had bright red hair there, and wasn't even wearing her customary plain white dress. And they were…in a dark castle, of some sort that had teemed with Heartless. Yes, it was the fortress called Hollow Bastion. He even knew he didn't call her Namine that time, he called her…something, just not Namine. He voiced his frustrations to her. "…and I can't even remember what you were called then…all I know is that is I didn't call you Namine." She looked concerned for a second, than remembered something herself. "Oh! I remember that time too! Except that I remember that right before it, you were a Heartless, and I was the only person that recognized you as a Heartless. But are you sure the castle was called Hollow Bastion? I'm fairly certain there were a lot of Heartless around, but I just can't recall what the hell the place was called. It's completely blank. However…" She paused, furrowing her brow. "What is it?" he said, concern in his voice "Wait, what did you call-"

"That's the thing! I can't remember what I called you then, but I know it started with an S…that's all I can remember, that it was S-something…" it was all so confusing for Namine. Her memories where like clouds swirling around in the sky. One minute she would see a coherent shape forming together, only to be brushed away, filled with blank spots. It was frightening, having the things that are supposed to be a solid cornerstone of your existence confused and jumbled together. It's like losing your sight; she thought with a sigh, the world is a dark and confusing place without your memories. She started walking, just to do _something_, and get away from this awful park. Roxas followed close behind her.

Namine was rubbing her temples, and generally looked like a picture of frustration and despair. Not to say that Roxas wasn't feeling quite a bit of both, he just was greatly bothered seeing Namine's. He didn't like seeing her like this; he wanted her to smile again. He quite suddenly grabbed her, and brought her face-to-face and eye-to-eye with him. She was intoxicated with how wonderfully warm his navy blue eyes looked, like the soothing waters of a hot spring, warming her bones. And he was equally entranced with her stunning aqua blue eyes, like deep pools of refreshing water, cool and inviting.

Almost involuntarily, he moved forward to kiss her, and she met him half-way. It was nothing passionate or lustful, just a light smooch. But to the two Nobodies, it made everything seem right with the world. Namine pulled away, and smiled a warm smile at Roxas. He opened his eyes, and returned the smile. "Come on, Namine, let's go." Roxas said in a low, easy voice. "Where to, Roxy?" giggling a bit at his nickname. He chuckled a bit in response, and replied "To wherever this path leads us too, Nami" he winked at her. And so the two started walking down the pathway through the park, holding hands, and in an alright mood, considering they were lost in a strange land without much memory of their lives beforehand. On the way, they were treated to the sight of more dead Heartless and Nobodies, hanging limply, and rocking a bit in the wind. When they finally where exiting the park, Namine noticed a sign, staked into the ground.

Roxas read it aloud. "The traitors hanging in this park defected to the Darkness Liberation Front or Malificent's faction. It thee readers of this sign do not wish to share their fate, you will remember your loyalty to your true master." Below the message, there was a character. Roxas didn't recognize it, but Namine did. "That's…arg, all I know is that character says 'Aku'. God it's on the tip of my tongue what it means…"

"It means 'Evil' in Japanese" A voice said behind them. Startled, they both spun around, Roxas drawing the Keyblade, and Namine materializing a sea-green staff with deep blue rings near the top and bottom in her hand. The staff was topped by a Silver Moon. (Namine even recalled that the weapon she had was called the Moon Scepter. How she had access to it was beyond her. ) The Keyblade that Roxas drew was the Oathkeeper version of the sword (Not that he knew, of course. He just knew the blade was his trusty weapon, the Keyblade). The man that the voice belonged to had a mane of fiery red hair held up by a black headband with a fire emblem on the front, and green eyes. He was dressed in the traditional dark blue robe of a sorcerer, and even had a wooden staff tipped with a red orb that was as tall as he was. Only thing he was missing was the hat. Of course, Roxas and Namine weren't aware that it was a sorcerer's robe; the only thing they could tell you about his robe was that it was a great blue color. The sorcerer continued "That might not mean anything to you, who don't even know where we are in the first place, but to someone like me, I'd think long and hard before crossing Aku after this."

"You live in this awful place?" Namine asked, quite shocked anybody would want to reside in this dump. The sorcerer chuckled a bit. "Heh, well it's not like I can leave. I've been trying to leave this dump for a little over a year now, and so far, I haven't had much success, as you can see." Roxas piped up "You spoke of Aku like he or she is a person. So there's some guy out there in this… city who had such a problem with treachery he had to resort to this?" he waved his hand in the direction of the carnage behind him. "Someone either desperate or insane does this kind of thing." The Sorcerer replied "And Aku is a little of the former, quite a bit of the latter. To answer your question, I spoke of Aku like a person 'cuz he is one, and a very powerful person at that. He leads one of six warring factions here in the World That Never Was. Well, five technically, but Xheanort still orders raids and such once in a while…anyway, Aku used to be the top dog around here. Then, the Darkness Liberation Front usurped him, and Malificent helped them do it. Aku never really recovered fully from the defeat there, mostly 'cuz one more faction appeared to mess up the politics of the region, _again_. So he has a vendetta against the both of them, and he took it out on the turncoats here. I'm sure he made them thankful to be dead, because he's infamous for his delight in torture."

Namine shook her head and closed her eyes. "What a sicko. But one thing I don't understand; how come they didn't disappear? Heartless generally do when Roxas kills them." Roxas looked at Namine, and then at the sorcerer. He was wondering that too, because the only thing that he noticed about the Heartless was that they didn't have the yellow eyes they usually had. Where their beady eyes would be was just…blank. The Sorcerer looked at the Keyblade in Roxas' hand "I'm guessing you used that sword to kill the Heartless you encountered before, right?" Roxas raised the blade to eye level "Not this one specifically, but one like it." The Sorcerer nodded, and then continued "That is a weapon of light, as are all weapons forged in that realm. Every single weapon forged in the realm of light destroys darkness by its nature. The Same thing applies to weapons of the dark, they destroy light by their nature. But when a weapon of the dark is used on a creature of the dark," he indicated the Heartless and Nobodies hung in the park "it's like if someone from our realm attacked another person of the Realm of light. It's blood and guts and gore"

They were silent for a moment after that. Then, the Sorcerer piped up quite suddenly in a better mood "Oh, I am terribly rude, I forgot to introduce myself! I am Lea Baendar, Sorcerer and Paladin." He went up and shook both of the two Nobodies hands. "Oh, heh heh hi. I'm Roxas, and this is Namine." As Alex shook his hand, he raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Pleased to meet you, Lea." Namine said politely, as he shook hers. Lea eyed the both of them, he opened his mouth to say something, then paused, and asked "So what brings two kids like you to these bad lands?" Namine looked to Roxas, and he sighed, and replied "We're not really sure how we got here. The only thing I can recall before we got here was that somebody tore out our most of our memories. Hell, it felt like someone tore out my memories when I woke up; my head hurt like a bitch." Lea's eyes widened at this, and then he turned sharply to Namine and asked "Same feeling for you too, right?" She nodded, saying "My head still kinda hurts."

He then looked off into space, thinking. "Hmmm…I know of only one person who can edit memories in such a way: Aku. It would explain a lot, considering this is his turf, but what would he want with two Nobodies…? And an even better question, what are you two specifically doing here in the first place? Last I heard, you had reunited with Sora and Kairi…" Roxas and Namine didn't really know what to say, as they both had no idea what he was talking about.

Seeing their deer in the headlights looks, he sighed. "He really did a number on you two then. (sigh) Well, I guess the only thing I can really do with you two is take you under my wing. You two already have weapons, but do you remember how to use them?" he asked. He saw that they didn't take his hint, so he sighed and said "Show me what you can do with those things. I don't travel with damsels-in-distress. Show me you can defend yourselves." Roxas thought for a moment, then had an idea. He ran up to a tree, and as he was running he shouted "SLASH!" The Keyblade started to glow white, and he then felled the tree in one swoop. As the tree fell to the ground, Lea clapped lightly. "Impressive. Now, your turn, milady. Let's see the power of that fancy staff of yours…"

She also took a second to think, and then grinned evilly. She pointed the staff at Lea and shouted "ARROW!" A harpoon made of white light shot out of the staff. Reacting quickly, Alex formed a shield of fire in his staff hand, and deflected the harpoon sized arrow into a nearby building. The arrow exploded, and left a good size hole in the structure. "Woo, feisty this one. That's good, 'cuz out here, you'll need all the fierceness you can get. Well, now that everythings is settled and everyone knows each other, let's get the hell out of here! I'm sure that explosion and even the presence of the Keyblade'll attract Heartless and/or Nobodies here any minute. We need to hustle, now!" He took off twards one of the buildings that was looked more together then some of the others in the square. Roxas and Namine followed close behind him. Heartless started appearing behind them in the park, and started to chase them. The trio made good time to the building of choice, but the Heartless where close behind. "INSIDE, NOW!" Lea opened the door, and the two Nobodies rushed inside. He dropped a small, hard ball of fire on the porch of the apartment building they had entered. He shut the door, recited an incantation, and turned the door to steel. He bolted the newly metalized door, and looked through the peephole.

"Fell right into my trap" he said as he snapped his fingers. Outside, the apple sized marble exploded, and left an inferno of flames in a 5 foot radius of the building. Across the street, a man stood there with several Neoshadows and Wizards flanking him. His face was concealed by a helmet, and he donned fearsome looking black and silver armor. On the center of his breastplate, he donned the Heartless symbol. "So, you won't fall as easily as I thought, my two Nobodies. But you'll need more than a former Organization member to survive here. heh heh heh…" He chuckled, and then commanded one of the Wizard "Bring me my Behemoth. I wish to inspect my holdings on our way back to my fortress. And send word to the Research team to prep Subject 027." The Wizard addressed bowed, and then waved his staff. A Behemoth with a one man tent atop it soon appeared. A ladder rolled down from the tent, and the armored man scaled it. His black cape fluttered behind him, and in the center of it, stitched in thick silver thread, resided the Japanese character meaning Evil: Aku. When the man in armor reached and settled in the tent, he commanded the Behemoth to move, and it began to march at a walking pace, with the Neoshadows and Wizards following close behind.

The group settled in a fairly large room that resembled was a comfortably furnished apartment. The rest of the night was spent playing a kind of memory jigsaw puzzle sitting around a fire Lea made in the fireplace; Roxas or Namine would talk about something they remembered, and the other one would help and see if they remembered the time they were talking about. It got old for Lea _very _fast. "…oh yea, I do remember that! I was watching you from the monitor that in Diz's command center! You did amazing in that Struggle tournament Roxy. You beat Seifer down!" Namine said, very excited. Roxas smiled warmly, and replied "Thanks Nami. Oh, you saw when I got in a lucky hit to his face? Oh, it was so awesome! I felt amazing then Nami. It was like… like I was invincible!"

Ohhh, that's because you _are_ invincible, Roxy, my knight in shining armor!" Lea said, imitating Namine's voice. He sighed and said "If you two are going to have an orgasm over each other, please, go get a room! The last thing I want to hear is a couple arguing who loves the other one more. In fact, how's about you two find some room several floors up, and just fuck for the rest of the night. Best of all, everybody wins! I get some peace, and you two get some." Namine glared at Lea, and replied "We are trying to reestablish what memories we do have, you ass. Just because you're acting like a grumpy old fart doesn't mean we can't-" Roxas tapped her on the shoulder and said with a devilish smile "You know, he does have a point. That arrangement _would_ benefit everyone…" Namine responded by smacking him in the arm "Oh, come off it, you perv! _Anyway,_ why are you such a grump all of the sudden, Lea?"

"Because I find your continual banter about things I don't know annoying! Oh, it's wonderful that you won a Struggle tournament, big ef-ing whoop! Who the fuck cares about some two bit fighting event! God, you don't even remember the important stuff…" Roxas eyed him suspiciously "And you would know the important stuff?" Namine raised an eyebrow at him also. He stared into the fire, leaning forward in the recliner he was sitting in. "(sigh) Let's just say I've meet the both of you before. I wasn't really myself at the time, but I do remember meeting you two in the past." Namine didn't really know what to say to that, and looked into the fire. Roxas paused, taken aback, then replied "Well, I'm sorry we don't remember you. I really wish I did, you don't seem that bad of a guy." Lea looked at Roxas and smiled lightly. "Thanks _Roxy_. But I do have a question to ask you two: what do you remember about the Organization members? Specifically one named Axle?"

Roxas looked down, deep in thought. "Well, I do recognize the name Axle. He was my close friend in the Organization, along with Xion. But…I can't recall what either of them look like…" Namine looked up from the fire and said "All I can remember about Axle is that he was one of the nicer members of the Organization. All the rest at Castle Oblivion either tormented me, like that awful bitch Larxene, or just treated me with contempt, like Marluxia or Vexen. I can remember what they all looked like, except for Axle. His image…just escapes me…" Roxas suddenly piped up "I think he wielded two circular blades, and controlled fire, just as well as you do, in fact…why do you ask?" Lea once again stared into the fire. "I knew him well, as I did the other members of the Organization. I just wondered if you remembered him."

He stared into the fire deeply, thinking back to that time. "They really have no idea who I am…" Lea thought. "This has to be Aku's doing…no simple memory altering spell could have made them forget me that thoroughly. Heck, if this was an altering spell, they wouldn't remember just bits and pieces of my actions, my very presence would have jarred them to remember what Axle looked like and then make the connection. No, this is the work of the Shade's Claw…but what the hell did Aku want with them? I mean, their hearts are of little use to him. Sora doesn't even have much darkness in his heart, and Kairi's doesn't have any at all! It makes no sense for him to go and kidnap them from the realm of light when he could spend just as much time and energy recruiting Heartless here in Dark City. He let the leftover Nobodies go, and he would never make a Nobody unless he got something really great out of it; he hates Nobodies with a passion. Either Aku really has lost his mind, or he's up to something, something big. That would explain why he's kept to himself the last month; didn't even try to recapture the Highway of Tears from the League of Four. Oh, he's up to something alright, but what is the million dollar question. Hmmm…Speaking of the League, maybe they know something about this…Crucifixion Square should be several blocks over…and I'm fairly certain that the area is still calm. Might need to dodge a few patrols, but I doubt that'll be a problem…"

Lea stood up from his chair and turned to face Namine and Roxas. "Ok you guys, I'm turning in. And you should be too. We have an early start tomorrow." "Where we headed too?" Roxas inquired. "To Crucifixion Square; it's the nearest piece of territory the League of Four controls. From there, we'll head to their stronghold, The Undercastle. We'll probably have to walk there, but at least we'll be among friendly forces. They shouldn't attack us, at least they won't attack _me_, and I'll tell any patrols you're with me. The League might have an idea why you two are here, or at the very least can find out. That park I found you, Execution Square, is Aku's territory, so it's safe to assume he has something to do with how you two got here, and I doubt he'll tell us if we were to find and ask him. Let's just hope the League's spy network is still as formidable as it once was…Anyway, I searched this apartment, and there's only one bed. However-" he motioned for them to get off the couch the where sitting on, and then he took off the cushions and pulled out a fairly large bed. "If you two don't mind sharing a bed…" Roxas looked to Namine, and she winked at him. "I don't think there'll be a problem, right Roxas?" He grinned back at her "Oh, not at all." Lea sighed at this. "Just keep it down, alright? I get woken up by you two going at it, I'm throwing you both out the window." he snapped at the fire, and it went out at his command. He then went to the door of the bedroom. "Night" he said as he closed the door behind him.

Roxas and Namine spent the next hour just laying on the pull out bed, talking. About their past experiences, about how they felt about those experiences, about how they thought of the people they met. "Say Roxas, what's the last thing you do remember? You know, after Twilight Town?" Namine interrupted Roxas, who was just telling about mission to a certain Halloweentown. "Huh? Oh, well…"Roxas paused "All I do remember, after heading into the mansion, and getting attacked by those N-things in there…it's all gone. Ok, I remember a beautiful island we both lived on…not very well, but I do remember it…other than that, it was the last moment before we wound up in the park. You know, some guy saying he's going to tear out our memories, him laughing maniacally-" "Yea, I recall that." Namine replied. She shuddered, and continued "He sounded psycho there, whoever he was. I can't remember what he looked like, though…"

"I do" Roxas said. He closed his eyes. "He had a helmet on, and it certainly looked frightening. But I remember his eyes the best. They were smiling eyes, like he was having a good time." He gritted his teeth. "Here we are, missing a cornerstone of our lives, and he's having a blast torturing us." He grimaced "and the last thing I remember him saying was that he was ripping out our memories, and not leaving much but the basics. It's him that has our memories, it has to be. If he's Aku, then we'll have to fight to get our memories back."

Namine leaned over and put her hand on his chest. "It's alright Roxas. You might not have your memories, but you have me." Namine smiled warmly. "…thanks Nami. And don't you forget, you have me." He turned to look at her. After a few, wonderful seconds, she came close and kissed him. This time, he held nothing back. He had a fire burning in his gut, and he didn't resist it. She was a little taken aback at how forceful and passionate he was, but then a wave of desire surged up and overtook her, and she returned his passion, and grabbed a fistful his hair with one hand, and grabbed another fistful of his coat with the other. He then rolled on top of her. After a hot, sweaty, and intense few minutes of sucking face, Roxas came up for air. He had had a devilish grin on his face as he pulled both his arms into his coat, trying to slip his Organization uniform off. Namine put a hand up to him and said "Not tonight, big boy. But-" She grabbed him and did a reversal, her on top now. She forcefully grabbed him by the collar and whispered "I'm not done with you yet, Sora." He laughed evilly "Oh, I can handle anything you do to me Kairi."Both didn't seem to notice that they weren't addressed by their proper names. She bared her teeth, and bit Roxas on the neck. No hard enough to leave a hicky, but enough for Roxas to moan a bit. "Ahhhh…yeeess…harder…" She bit down, hard. He winced, and arched his back a bit "Arrggg!" he growled as he grabbed Namine and rolled on top of her, rather forcefully. "My turn" he growled to Namine as he bared his sharp incisors.

Their antics didn't last for too much longer. Some more passionate French kissing, and then Namine reminded Roxas that they had an early day tomorrow. They both would have liked very much to continue, but they knew that they shouldn't. Besides, they had both been chased by Heartless, had their memories removed, and generally weren't in any mood for sex. Namine was quite a bit less in the mood than Roxas, but that was just the gender divide rearing its head. Roxas could have simply forgotten about the awful day if they _really_ started going at it, but as soon as she stopped, the fire in his loins lost its power, and the emotions from today showed themselves again; though they didn't over take him, as snuggling with Namine made him feel warm inside, and helped to quelled those feelings of frustration and confusion and anger.

One thing plagued Roxas, and it ate at Namine too. In all of the memories that they had, they both only remember having a bit of a crush on the other person. It wasn't even close to this kind of passion and intensity. Heck, they where head over heels over each other. (They both didn't want to admit this to themselves though, especially Roxas.) But they also knew how they felt, and couldn't ignore their feelings. "The key is in my memories." Namine thought. "But the question is…how much am I missing?" thinking about it, she felt cheated. She was sure that she and Roxas had wonderful romantic moments between when she remembered and now. "And that asshole Aku stole them! Snatched them right from our heads! Well, Mr. Memory thief, I will reclaim those wonderfully romantic moments, even if I have to storm to your castle and wring your neck till I get them back!" Meanwhile, Roxas was thinking more practically. "Damn, I hope this League of Four can help us out…Lea trust's them…but wait a tic, how do we know we can even trust Lea? He didn't attack us, but what if he's an agent of this League? What the hell does he want with us? He's not benefiting from this; he's being nice…or luring us into a trap. We'll have to watch him closely…"

But after a few minutes of such fretful thoughts, they fell fast asleep. In the other room, Lea stared out the window of his room. "Why are you doing this, Lea?" he said to himself. "You certainly don't need two kids to drag around here." His heart, the one thing that he had lacked in the past, answered him "One, because it's the right thing to do, and two, Roxas was your friend when you where Axle. He made you feel whole, and helped you get out from the under the Organization's thumb. You _owe _him as much, to guide him and his lover though this desolate maze."

"Do you even know if Elenar and Marlian will even let them in the front door? Sora and Kairi weren't in the Organization's good books, so they defiantly won't get a warm welcoming at the League…" his rational side continued. His heart retorted with "Yes, but they aren't Sora and Kairi, are they? You're leading around Roxas and Namine, not the other two."

"But they're the same person! Roxas _is_ Sora, and Namine _is_ Kairi."

"Yes, but the League won't see it that way. Besides, you dangle a chance to get at Aku in front of them, they're bound to snatch it up!"

"But the problem isn't their willingness to hurt Aku; that's already there quite strongly. It's the _means _of hurting Aku; how the hell are you going to grab their memories back? He isn't just going to hand them over, he fights tooth and nail over something that's of worth to him. And for some reason, Sora and Kairi's memories and hearts are worth quite a bit to him."

"Bah, why do I bother myself with this banter? The bottom line is that I need more information, and I'm going to help Roxas and Namine however I can." He shut the window, as if finalizing the thought, and plopped in to the bed near the window.

Outside, on the building opposite, an Air Soldier watched the window tentatively. He was a special Air Soldier, equipped with a Stealth spell, which concealed him from being seen, smelled, or heard. He was pacing anxiously for them to be on the move again. It was _so_ boring sitting around and watching them sleep. He wanted to go back to being stationed at the base just west of Memory's Skyscraper. "Now _that _was an exciting assignment. I was on the front lines, laying waste to any fool that decided to mess with our faction." He knew that it was an honor to be chosen for a "special" assignment like this (though he didn't see anything particularly special about it), but _seriously?_

Keeping tabs on some guy and two Nobodies had to be the most boring assignment ever! "This is total bullshit. I can get more kicks on garrison duty. But, what Lord Aku wants, Lord Aku gets…however…" he noticed a group of Dusks searching the area, apparently looking for something to kill. If Heartless had mouths, he would have been grinning evilly. "But then again, there are benefits these special assignments" and he activated the Stealth spell, causing him to disappear into thin air. A few minutes later, 2 very confused Dusks ran away from where their comrades had been felled by some invisible enemy. After the Dusks had fled, the Air Soldier deactivated the Stealth spell. He laughed evilly at his victory over those worthless Nobodies. He crushed the head of one of the Dusks with his foot, leaving a mess of ink colored blood where the Dusk's head used to be. "Never mind" he commented, flying back up to his post "This might be exciting after all."


	2. Project Posessor Research Report 31

Project Possessor;

Research Report #31: Subject 027

Given Name: Auros

Original Name: Sora

Significance: This experiment is the accumulation of month's worth of work. Both Projects Mind Piercer and Soul Cleaver have been spectacularly successful. But this is the main event, the real test of theory. If this works, then my plan can go into operation. Subject 028 will be a challenge, considering the subject, but if this works, I will have made the biggest discovery since the great Xehanort discovered how to artificially consume hearts in darkness. And all shall acknowledge the greatness of the Dark Lord Aku. That is, if they don't acknowledge me as their lord and master. But moving on, this experiment is taking place to determine the validity of my Theory of Injection. And it will grant me a powerful new servant. Sora's soul is very powerful, and I have much faith in Auros' potential powers.

Results: Auros Lives! He is rather dazed, coming out of my recently put together Injection Machine. Well, that is understandable, considering Injection is not a peaceful or painless process. I selectively put in memories from Sora, so he generally remembers Sora's achievements in defeating Ansem the Great, Xemnas, and of course, how to fight. I left out most of Sora's recent memories, as they would only complicate things. But this success determines that my Injection Theory is correct, and that it can be applied to any person. At least, to Beings of Light. Conclusions: This has huge implications, as it means I have effectively created a whole new breed of Heartless. And a powerful one at that; I have given Auros his weapon, the Soul Cleaver, and he is more than holding his own against some Nobodies I captured. Subject 028 ,now, will be a challenge, but I am very confident about the experiment. And I have good reason to believe that she will be just as formidable as Auros. Her potential weapon, the Mind Piercer, is ready and working like it should; all that is left is Subject 028's awakening.

Auros is a fine specimen; he dispatched all of the Nobodies I sent at him. Not with ease, I might add, but it is good that I now have an idea of his limits. And, thankfully, he is close to Sora's original power, but quite a bit a ways from mine. Great, if he should choose to ever rebel against me, I shall be able to snuff him out like a candle. I now cast my mind to where I should commit my new warrior (potentially warriors). I have no shortage of enemies that I could pit him (or them) against. I will have to dedicate some thought to this matter, as I am wary of revealing my trump card to my enemies. But for now, I must simply be glad with myself, and begin preparations for Subject 028's creation.


	3. Chapter 2: Into the Void

The Air Soldier tailing Lea and the Nobody couple, who's name happened to be Black Viper, named for his great skill in ambushing, was busy reliving his glory days back at Memory's Skyscraper when he heard a steel door open and shut. He looked over and saw his marks running into an alleyway on the other side of the building. He reacted quickly, activating Stealth and flying over to observe the progress of the group. "Shame I can't kill them myself."Black Viper thought, disappointed "They don't look like too much of a challenge. Hell, they look like Beings of Light, so they must be _really _weak. But a mission is a mission…" he flew down into the alley to hear what they were saying.

"Alright, keep your heads down, and be as quiet as possible."Lea advised as the treaded through the alleyway. They stealthy moved down the alley to where it turned into the street. He looked up at what could be called the sun, if the sun was a bluish-purple color. "It's about 10:00 now. That's good, we have some time before Noon. The guard changes then, and generally the units here do a few thorough sweeps beforehand. So, we have some time before things really get congested here, but still, stay close and stay quiet_._" He poked his head out and examined the street and the air above the street. He motioned for them to follow, then sprinted across the street. They hid in another alleyway as 2 Shadows formed out of the middle of the street. One cupped it's hands over where it's mouth would be, and shouted "We have company!" it's voice was winey and raspy . "Whoa, Heartless can talk?" Roxas exclaimed, startled. "Shhh!" Lea shushed. He then whispered "They can, but don't like too. They generally use some sort of telepathy to communicate with, but they have be within visual range to mentally communicate."

At the Shadows call, 10 more Shadows apparated out of the air. The biggest Shadow approached the one who called, and it appeared to be explaining what it saw. "What the hell are we sitting her for? We've gotta get out of here!" Namine whispered to Lea. "No, they might notice or hear us running. Just wait for them to start searching for us…" As Lea said that, the group of Shadows spread out, and luckily none of them decided to search the alley they were in. Lea, when the Shadows where sufficiently far away enough, sprinted down the alley, with the two Nobodies following close behind.

"hmmm…" Black Viper faces a bit of a dilemma now. "Should I warn my brothers where they are going? Or keep my presence a secret?" He recalled Lord Aku not only saying the _he _was not to engage them until His Mightiness so specified. _But _Lord Aku also stated that he should find out the abilities of the two blonde haired ones. And what better way to test their abilities then to sic some Shadows on them? He focused his eyes on the bigger Shadow, and projected his thoughts to her. "They went down this alleyway, where my voice is coming from." The bigger Shadow looked around confused "Who speaks? Identify yourself!" Viper growled back "_I_ am Black Viper, and I outrank you, vermin!" (The ranking system of Aku's forces ranges from Green, the lowest, to Silver, the highest. Black is the rank below Silver.) "And your superior officer is telling you that the intruders are in that alley, and to go and get them."

"Black? And how in hell am I supposed to know you're not some Nobody?" Viper, growing _very _annoyed, deactivated the Stealth spell and swooped down to face the suspicious Giga Shadow. He grabbed the pendant he had around his neck and shoved it in the Giga Shadows face. The other Shadows, greatly surprised by the Air Soldier appearing out of thin air, rushed back to their commander and surrounded the Soldier and the Shadow. "You see this?" Viper asked, shaking the metal plate in his hand. It was painted black, and the silver Character for evil contrasted with the background. Viper picked up a low threatening tone "This means I can have you executed for insubordination. Now are you going to comply, or does Execution Square need another noose?" the Giga Shadow drew herself to full height (which was still much shorter than Viper), and commanded her Shadows to follow the trespassers down the alley and to kill them. She grabbed Viper by one of his loose helmet straps and pulled him close. "Don't you dare humiliate me in front of my Shadows again. You may outrank me, but this is my territory. _I _am queen here. And people who cross the queen here disappear." She let the strap go, and went on after her men. In reply, Viper sent her a mental image of her strung up in Execution Square. She looked back at him and replied "Fuck you." She then disappeared down the alley. If Heartless could form facial expressions, he would have been scowling then. "I _really _hope those humans are good fighters now." He muttered as he reactivated his cloak, and resumed his assignment.

"SHIT!" shouted Lea as he noticed the Heartless chasing them. "HUSTLE GUYS, HUSTLE!" Roxas looked behind him to see 5 Heartless chasing after them. Suddenly, Namine tripped over a broken piece of concrete sticking out of the ground. She managed to catch herself, and Roxas went back and hoisted her up quickly. Lea looked ahead, and saw that they where nearly out of the alley. Then, to his great dismay, he saw 5 more Shadows appear out of the ground. "Fucking A" he thought to himself as he stopped abruptly. As a consequence, Namine and then Roxas ran into him, nearly knocking all three of them to the ground. He glared at the two of them, and then stuck his hand out. His Red orb topped staff appeared in a flash of light. "So ya think you're clever, huh?" he said as he took a fighting stance as a Giga Shadow rose from the ground "Well. It's gonna take a lot more than being clever to take medown! Gimme your best shot, you fuckheads!"

Respnding to his taunt, all 6 Shadows jumped him. Just in time, he curled into a ball, forming a dome of flame around him. He leaped to feet, and the dome responded by exploding out and knocking the Shadows several feet back. Roxas and Namine drew their weapons "Go help him, I got these ones" Roxas ordered Namine. She nodded, and shouted "Force!" throwing 4 of the Shadows into a wall. Roxas charged the four Shadows behind them, using a Sliding Dash. His dash destroyed one in a burst of shadow and munny, and knocked another one to the ground. Roxas wasted no time in hitting a Shadow off to the side up in the air. "_one, two, THREE!"_ he thought as he did a uppercut slash, another one, and knocking the Heartless to the ground. The shadow hit the ground and burst into shadow and a Hi-Potion. He landed, and got tackled to the ground by the other two shadows. He responed by hitting one in the back with his Keyblade, causing it to explode into more munny and Health globes. The other Shadow slashed at him viciously, then grabbed his head and started bashing it against the ground. The Shadow bashed his head four times, until it suddenly was blasted off him in a burst of ice. A blast of fire right after finished off the Heartless, and left behind a Ether. "You owe us, dude." Lea said with a smirk. Namine hurried over and helped Roxas to his feet. He stumbled back a bit, still not seeing straight. "Gather" Lea muttered, and all the various things the Heartless had dropped came to him. He mushed the Health Globes into one Globes, and squished it in front of Roxas' face, releasing the magic Cure magic stored inside. Roxas suddenly perked up, feeling many times better. "You're welcome." Lea said with a smirk. He then said "Gather" again, and all the munny orbs came to his palm. He formed it into a single coin that had the number "167" on it. "Whoa, how did you do that?" Namine exclaimed, totally caught off guard. Lea looked at her like she was retarded, and said "You can't be serious…" Roxas looked a little puzzled too. "We are serious, though I do recognize that spell…I might have used it before…"

Lea sighed loudly "OF COURSE YOU USED IT! The Gathering spell is, like, the most BASIC magic out there! Most of the time, you don't even have to put your hand out, you just think of using the spell, and it happens. Uses so little Mana that your body naturally replenishes the energy used! God, you don't even remember THAT! It's is a very good thing I found you, cuz' otherwise your be stuck here filling your pockets with munny and popping Health Globes individually." He shook his head, and continued "We'd better go before-"

Suddenly, a horn blared in the distance "BUURRRRRRRRRRRRR…BBUURRRRRRRRRRR…BBUUURRRRRRRRR"  
Lea's face turned white, and his pupils shrunk to black dots in his Hazel eyes. "Oooohh shit…RUUUN!" He took off, followed by Roxas and Namine, wondering what the hell they had got themselves into. Suddenly, no less than 15 Air Soldiers apparated just behind them, and about 17 Soldiers appeared below the Air Soldiers. They ran into the street, only to be met with 8 or 9 Large Bodies on one side of them, and a horde of Shadows, lead by Invisibles, on the other side. The group of fugitives fled across the street and down an alley way as fast as they could. While he was running, Lea was forming those fire marbles he used the previous day. And a combonation of Invisibles, Soldiers, Air Soldiers, and Shadows flooded into the alley. When they ran out of the alley, huffing and puffing away, Lea snapped his fingers. The alleyway exploded into scene from the Dante's Inferno. Cries of torment echoed from the burning Heartless, and they ran or flew every which way, still burning. Lea stopped, out of breath. "Those damn (pant) Fire Marbles take a lot out of me…" he said between heavy breaths. Roxas and Namine paid him no mind. They were busy "enjoying" the sight of Heartless dramatically burring alive, shrieking inhumanly, running around aimlessly, and eventually collapsing into a burst of shadow. Then, a howl of pain sounded from the inferno within, answered by more howls farther back. "Arrggg…MOTHER FUCKER!" Namine asked what the hell it was. In response to her inquiry, a Large Body crashed through one of the buildings and howled. "Large Body rampage." Lea responded "One gets mad-" 3 more Large Bodies came charging though the buildings on the left side, beating the ground and howling "-they all get mad."

"What, we can take them on, right?" Roxas asked Lea tentatively. In response, a Large Body came barreling down the still burning alley, ripping through the side walls that restricted, and it not bothered at all by the super hot fire. Instead, it only got angrier, and beat its chest in defiance of the fire. "I don't know, can we Roxas?" Lea asked sarcastically. Roxas, greatly shocked, took off, quickly followed by Namine and Lea. The Large Bodies chased them across the street, and into another Alley. "Crucifixion Square is just up ahead!" Lea shouted. The alley that our trio ran into was much too small to fit one Large Body, much less the 8 chasing after them. But, the Large Bodies didn't care that it was too small, they just smashed through the two buildings in their way. Unfortunately, (for the giant Heartless, that is) the two buildings where were already unsteady from standing in a war zone. And these two buildings couldn't take the onslaught of the Large Bodies. They started to collapse into each other, burying everyone inside and between them in an avalanche of rubble. However, this included our Trio.

Reacting quickly, Lea grabbed Roxas and Namine, one under each arm, and leaped into the air. At the top of his jump, and as the two buildings started to fall on top of them, fire shot out of his boots, giving him the last 8 feet he needed to clear the collapsing buildings. However, his jump took him right up into the falling debris, and he hit his head on a brick. Sailing through the air, the three of them hit the grass hard. Roxas broke his fall with his arms, breaking both of them. Namine managed to come in at a low angle and rolled a few feet. A very unconscious Lea landed face first, breaking his nose horrifically. Namine got up tentatively. She was very dazed, and everything hurt. She snapped out of it when she heard Roxas crying out in pain. "Roxas!" she ran over to him, and healed his broken arms. Roxas winced at the stinging sensation the Cura spell made as it mended his arms. Moving his arms to get feeling back into them, he said "Thanks, Nami." He sat up, and noticed Lea lying unconscious on the ground. "Lea!" he shouted, and he ran over to him, followed by Namine. Roxas turned him over, and gasped at his flattened and broken nose. "Heal" Namine said. The Cura spell reformed his nose and healed the bruise on his head. The sting of this healing woke him up. "Ohhhh…please tell me the Heartless aren't behind us…" Roxas looked up, only to see a platoon of Soldiers charging straight for them. He leaped to his feet, drawing the Keyblade, and shouted "We have company!" Namine and Lea were just about to jump to their feet, when suddenly, some Berserker Nobodies charged at the platoon out of nowhere, tossing the Heartless aside like an elephant tossing Roman Legionaries.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." a woman's voice said out of nowhere. All of them looked up to see a pretty blonde woman with sea green eyes and her hair combed back into a pony tail. She resembled a Rouge, in skin tight pants, knee high boots, a looser dark blue shirt that showed off a generous amount of cleavage, only accentuated by the fact that she was wearing a black corset outside her shirt. She was fiddling with a knife in one hand, and the other cross across her body (though in no way hiding her luscious breasts). All in all, she resembled a tigress, outgoing, beautiful and _very _dangerous. Lea smirked when he saw her, and replied "Nice of you to help us after the fact, Elenar" He commented sarcastically "You _could _have stepped in a block back, and it would have made things a lot easier for us." "And ruin a good show? Not likely. Besides, you fared well enough on your own." Elenar replied in a bubbly voice. "And nice to see you too, Lea. Or should I say, Axle." Roxas looked confused, and Elenar continued. She turned to the two Nobodies. "Roxas! It's been so long, you little twerp." She ruffuled his hair, and he smiled back nervously. She then turned her gaze to Namine, and she grinned mischievously "Ahhh…Namine, you freak show of a Nobody..." Namine glared venomously back at her "Hello to you too, Larxene." She smiled at this, and said "Ah, Larxene, Elenar, in the end they are two names for the same person. But on to business; Lea, you would have only come to the League if you needed something from us. So spill it; what is it that you want.?" Lea smiled, and replied "I'm hurt, Elee. I could have just came to reminisce about the old days…"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you could have, but I just have a feeling that this isn't one of those times, Flamilocks. Call it a woman's intuition." And at that, she turned a threw her knife into a tree a little ways away from them. The knife gathered into a disk of electric energy, and cut the tree down. It fell with a thud. "Perfect shot." Elenar stated as the knife arced around and returned to her hand. "Ok, you got me there, Elee. I do need something from the League or Four, and it concerns these two." Motioning to Roxas and Namine. She looked quizzically at the both of them. "Say how do they-Oh, never mind, you can tell me at the Undercastle. It had just better be a damn good reason. Marian and Braig didn't take kindly to you refusing our offer, so they won't be inclined to help you." Lea got up on his feet as a carriage pulled by a team of various Heartless, overseen by a Dragoon with a long cattle prod pulled up to them "Oh trust me, Elee. I think Marlian and Braig will be _very _interested. I'll fill you in on the way there, just in case your comrades in the League aren't in a forgiving mood."

The Dragoon bowed to Elenar, and opened the door as she climbed in. Lea climbed in after her. Roxas and Namine reluctantly approached the carriage. "What the fuck are you two waiting for? Get your dumb asses in here!" Elenar barked. They looked to each other. Roxas shrugged, and got in. Namine bit her lip, and got in. Elenar commanded the carriage to move. The Dragoon prodded the lead Heartless, a Soldier slightly bigger than the rest. The Heartless turned around, the chains attached to its neck and body clanking loudly. "MOVE, YOU SCUM!" the Dragoon shouted at the Heartless. The Heartless locked eyes with the Dragoon and replied "Go screw yourself." Elenar, very annoyed that her order was ignored, got out of the carriage and shouted "Are you deaf, driver, or just feeling rebellious?" she asked, two daggers forming in her hands. The Dragoon pointed at the lead Soldier. "He is the rebellious one, Mistress." The Soldier glared at Elenar, and scoffed telepathically, "What can a woman possibly do to harm me? Go back to your kitchen, bitch" Now if there were two (of many) things that got under Elenar's skin, it was Sexism, and any Heartless or non-humanoid Nobody acting superior to her. And this little bastard fit both descriptions. Lea saw this, and said to the two teenagers opposite him "You might not want to look at this. It's not going to be pretty."

Elenar grabbed the Heartless by his head. The next minute sounded something like this to the trio in the carriage; _Wump, wump, crack kark kish kish kish skish skish quish quish quash._ "ANY OF YOU PUNKS FEEL LIKE ENDING UP LIKE THIS ASSWIPE, go ahead and defy my orders!" Elenar barked to the Heartless. She left the broken body of rebellious Soldier at the front of the train, to serve as a constant reminder of the benefits of obedience. She stormed back into the carriage, and slammed the door. "Oh god, I'll never get these stains out." She wined, considering her shirt and pants where covered in ink black blood. Roxas and Namine stared at her, shocked at her sudden change in demeanor. Lea only snickered. "Oh, you haven't changed a bit, Larxene. A bit more moody, but that's about it." She undid her ponytail, letting a mane of golden blonde hair flow down to just below her shoulders. She winked at Lea in response. "Just like you haven't, Axle. Maybe you're a bit nicer then you where before, but that's about it. But on to the question of the day: How do these two drips exist? I'm not certain about the details, but I thought they had reunited with their hearts, like we did." Lea leaned back, kicked his feet up right next to Namine, and started his tale.

He told Elenar (and consequently, Roxas and Namine) everything, from why he was helping them to his deductions about Aku. "…and as far as I can tell, Aku has some grand plan, and it involves the hearts of these two." Roxas looked at him. "So you were…Axle? And _I'm _a Nobody? _We _are Nobodies?" Namine was equally incredulous "And we reformed with our true selves, only now, for some reason, Aku tore out our Hearts _and _our memories?" The realization dawned on the both of them. "So we don't really…have feelings? I mean, we can't…can we?" Roxas asked tentatively. Lea shrugged. "Technically, no. But you where never a normal Nobody, Roxas. Hell, when I first saw you, you didn't even know how to speak, much less have memories to base your fake emotions off of, like I did." Elenar nodded, and commented "Yea, I was there when the Organization first discovered you, Namine. Vexen had a field day teaching you how to speak, and even Marluxia got in on the dotting. It was kinda pathetic. Thank god it was just a phase for them; otherwise _I _would have eliminated them, rather than you two." She said, motioning to Roxas and Lea. "Well, technically it was Sora who eliminated Marluxia. Roxas existed at that time, I can attest to that." Lea corrected. Elenar sighed loudly, and replied "What the fuck ever, Lea. He's Sora's Nobody, they're the same damn person!"

"But he doesn't have any memories of _being_ Sora, nor do I have any memories of being Kairi. I can't really be someone I have no memory of." Namine said. Lea rubbed his chin thoughtfully "That is a good point…I mean, the only reason I consider me and Axle the same person is because I remember back when I was Axle." "ANYWAY, we're off topic." Elenar interjected "Lea, I can't _officially _tell you anything until the Chairman and the Minister of Interior, Braig and Rudolf, say I can. But as Minister of Intelligence, I know certain things, and I can say that you are not wrong. And we might not have all the answers, but I think we can paint a pretty clear picture of what the dark lord doing…"

Roxas raised his hand. "What Roxas? And why the fuck are you raising your hand?" Elenar asked harshly. "Hey, you seemed in the middle of something, and I didn't want to be rude. But now; who the hell is Rudolf? I get the anagram for Marluxia/Marlian and Xigbar/Braig, but no Organization member I knew had an F in their name." Elenar sighed. "He was Luxord, remember him? Xemnas came up with the name, and he gave Luxord the choice of just dropping the F, or working in the F somehow. He liked the name a lot, so he chose to drop it. Any more stupid questions you'd like to ask me?" Roxas shook his head, kinda regretting he asked. "She just cuts you down no matter what you do." Roxas thought "(sigh) what a piece of work."

Though Namine did have one more question, and she didn't care how bitchy it made her sound; Larxene had took great delight in tormenting her, so she wasn't going to hold back now. "Yea, I do, _Elenar; _why do you look like such a slut?" Namine smiled that super-fake sarcastic smile that really means "Fuck you" at Elenar. Lea and Roxas where speechless, mostly cuz they knew they had a cat fight on their hands. "I don't know, Namine, why are you such a nosey little bitch?" Elenar replied in a super-bubbly and super-fake voice. When Namine's face fell into a scowl, she continued "Ohhh, is somebody a bit insecure? Aw, you know how unattractive insecurity is, Namine. Men like confident women…_aggressive _women…" she started rubbing Roxas' leg. Namine smacked her hand off his leg. Namine adopted a low, threatening tone "Keep your dirty hands off him, you whore. I just know a girl like you has "special" friends you can call to sate your lusts…" Elenar returned the low growl "Then you don't know jack shit about my friends, you mangy little twat. Really, Roxas could have done _much _better going with Xion, rather than settle for a bitchy little c-"

"Oh my god, we're here already!" Lea suddenly exclaimed, just in time as well. Elenar dropping the C-bomb could have started Ragnarok right there, Roxas thought. He looked over at Lea and mouthed "Thank you". Namine and Elenar glared at each other for a moment, then Elenar broke the silence with "Well, I guess we'd better get going then." The carriage stopped moving just as Elenar said this. The Dragoon opened the door to the carriage, revealing an odd structure. It resembled a bunker, only one story tall, though it's four corners where capped by towers, all manned by Sniper Nobodies. "Welcome to the Undercastle, boys and bitch." Elenar said, smirking at Namine "The stronghold of the League of Four. It's the mightiest fortress since The Castle That Never Was. After all, there are only four entrances, and all of them are under guard constantly. Even if you had the means of capturing this entrance hall, there are only two stairwells leading down to the structure of the Undercastle, and they can be collapsed on command. The only thing that'll get you into the Undercastle without the League's permission is with a large and powerful drill. Even then, you'll have dodge mines buried around the castle AND-"

"We get it, Elee; the Undercastle is invincible, you'd need an army to break in; Blah, Blah, blah, blah, blah." Lea said, imitating Elenar's voice. "I've heard the spiel before, just show us in." Elenar shook her head "Your hopeless, Lea. I'd be very nice to me if I was in your shoes. I am going to be your only advocate in the League. Heck, I _am _more moody now, I could just leave you out here to fend for yourselves." Lea looked dismayed, and replied "Ok, sorry I interrupted you, Elee." "And?" Elenar asked. "What do you mean, And?" Lea asked, growing steadily more annoyed with her. "Well, how do you address a woman who is superior to you?" the realization dawned on Lea, and he waved his hands "No way in hell am I doing that." Elenar called up to Snipers up on the towers "Guards? We have intruders here!" several red dots appeared on Lea's body. "Whoa, whoa, whoa…no need to get violent here…grr…mistress." Elenar smiled brightly "That's _much _better, Lea. What do you say?" Elenar asked Namine and Roxas. "Humf, fuck you." Namine said defiantly. "Ohh, Snipers!" Elenarx called. Roxas intervened quickly "What she means is that she's happy to honor her superior, right Nami?" Namine had a grumpy look on her face as she replied "Fine."

"Fine what, Namine?" Elenar asked, a wide smile across her face. Namine scowled. "Fine, I am happy to honor you, mistress." The smile on Elenar's face just got wider. "Wonderful! Now, follow me. The sooner we talk with the rest of the League, the sooner I can ditch you dipshits." She said, ending the conversation. And down she led them, into the lair of the League of Four. 


	4. Project Posessor Research Report 32

Project Possessor;

Research Report # 32: Subject 028

Given name: Irika

Original name: Kairi

Significance: Quite possibly, this experiment is even more importance than the last one. Kairi is a Princess of the Light, meaning she has no darkness in her heart, meaning she will never form a Heartless naturally. However, according to my Injection theory, that shouldn't matter. If I inject pure darkness into her heart, it should consume her and form a Heartless. This plays into the bigger picture, because it was noted by Ansem the Great in a report of his that the Hearts of Worlds have no darkness in them, as they have no negative emotions to fuel the darkness, only because Worlds have no emotions in the first place. However, Ansem was under the delusion that there was some super powerful "hidden shadow" somewhere inside the Hearts of Worlds, but the data is clear; Hearts of Worlds are devoid of darkness. And this experiment will probably reveal how the Princesses of Light have negative emotions without darkness being formed in their hearts. It is less important to my plans, more important to understanding the mechanics behind Hearts and Darkness. However, this knowledge may realize Ansem's dream: super powerful, Heartless of Worlds, though I very seriously doubt it will. Pure darkness is volatile in the relatively small amounts I am dealing with. Amassing enough pure darkness to inject into an entire worlds heart would be impossible to control.

Results: Irika has risen! She is just as dazed as Auros was, but, surprisingly, Auros (he insisted on being present through the whole experiment)has taken a great interest in Irika, and helped her climb out of the Injection Machine. As with Auros, I implanted memories from Kairi selectively, leaving out her most recent ones. I did notice one this however, and I noticed something similar with Auros. There is a small core of light leftover from the injection. The one in Irika is much brighter and a bit bigger then Auros', but it is still insignificant compared to the rest of the consumed heart. It is simply a curiosity; I must study this phenomenon further.

Conclusions: I am greatly impressed with Irika; she is faring very well with her weapon, the Mind Impaler, against Nobodies I captured. It still surprises me how much power Kairi had, and this is translated into Irika. She is on the same level as Auros is. Though one thing unsettles me: Auros is also watching her fight my Nobody gladiators and is very interested. She is fascinating to him, and she returns the interest. When walking to the Arena, I almost thought they were…flirting? I can understand that they are both unique compared to the other Heartless, so I assumed they would naturally relate to and maybe befriend each other, but this is starting to distress me. My plans have no room for a young teenage couple, and I fear it might head that direction. I may be jumping to conclusions, but considering the nature of Kairi and Sora's relationship (as I discovered from looking through their memories) I might not be so paranoid. Add to the fact that I will be sending them on missions together, and I have a serious wild card on my hands.

Irika is of the same caliber as Auros is, but still far less powerful than I. Though, speaking of their potential relationship, if they both decided they didn't need me, they could be a challenge; especially if they were smart about their superiority in numbers. Though I have great skill in one-on-one fighting, my skills with fighting multiple persons are severely lacking. This emphasizes one fact; they could be my trump card, or a large strike against me. I must watch them carefully, and keep a close eye on them. A routine of loyal Heartless should be enough to keep tabs on them. But then again, I can't attach to many Heartless to them, lest my forces here grow weak, and I need all the forces I can get here in Dark City. Besides, the missions I intend to send them on are fairly…specialized.

I have decided to invade the Realm of Light with my new warriors. They shall use their weapons, The Soul Cleaver and The Mind Impaler, to draft Heartless out of people in the Realm of Light. Though, there is one thing I do want to try before I start my invasion…I want to conduct one final test…and I know the perfect world to conduct my first field test: The Destiny Islands.


	5. Chapter 3: A Homecoming Party

"Ahhh… it's good to be home." Riku commented as a ferry pulled up next to the little outlet where paopu fruits grew. He inhaled the sweet tropical air. "damn, nice clean air again. Not like that shithole Los Angeles." He shuddered as he thought back to his visit of the place. "2 hours headed downtown…and that was a good day!" It was true, Riku had met, a few months ago, the producer and director of a show he heard about from a friend, who now lived in San Diego. This friend of Riku's had moved there from his home on the Mainland, as Riku and Sora called it; the island of Hawaii.

The Destiny Islands were a chain of islands formed out of a reef a little less than a mile southeast of Hawaii. You could use a row boat to get to the Mainland, as Riku, Sora and Kairi had done over the years, but the trip was just a bit longer then was comfortable, especially if you did the rowing all by yourself. You could call the ferry to come by and pick you up (the mayor of the town formed out of the population of the island chain was friends with the manager of the regional branch of AT&T, and he managed to get a cell tower installed out here. The service could get pricey, and if you weren't careful you could get dinged with roaming charges, but it meant you could have a cell phone, so it was well worth it.), but the prices of the ferry were outrageous. "30 dollars is absolute bullshit! That ferry goes all the way to Oahu; the freaking Destiny Islands aren't _that _out of the way." Riku thought as he walked off the gangplank and onto the warm sand of the island. He'd had many an argument with a captain of the ferry about the exorbant rates, and many times Kairi had to step in and charm the captain just so they could get a ride. Sora hassled with the captain, at first, but then he begrudgingly accepted the rates. Eventually Riku did too, but it was still something him and Sora bitched about. It was generally the start of a long conversation about how the man was keeping them down, stealing their money, and bossing them around; regular teen angst.

"Those where the good old days. Just us against the world, out to get whatever we could find." Riku thought fondly. Don't get him wrong, the last year had been awesome; the audition he went to in L.A. landed him a job as a stunt double and a NSC (Non-Speaking Character-basically, part of the background) in a major action TV series. It was an espionage thriller. It was dramatized and James Bond-esque, but there were a lot of action scenes; which suited Riku just fine.

But back to his point, those might have been the easy and fun days, but, quite honestly, being 17 kicked serious ass. Though he had only been away for 5 months (his part in the show lasted only 7 episodes), it had been a year since the excitement of all that jazz with Nobodies and Organization XIII, Two years since he was building the raft, _dying _to get the hell out of the Destiny Islands, out of Hawaii in general; on to somewhere totally new, and totally foreign. Well, he got his wish, alright, several times over…

"RIKU!" an attractive and slim older woman, with flowing silver hair and the blue eyes that Riku had. "AH! There he is! Come here!" said an only slightly younger looking man with dark blue eyes and the psycho hair that stuck out in a bunch of places that Sora had, only it was a golden blonde. The woman embraced Riku tightly, kissing on the cheek and then the forehead. "I missed you so much!" Riku smiled at this. "I love you too, mom." "And what about your good ol' Uncle Gerrick?" This blonde and much older version of Sora asked. "Ah, I couldn't forget a loud mouth like you even if I had my memory erased!" Riku replied, giving him a hearty man-hug. "Hey, mister emo fairy, you can get taller, but I can still put you in your place, boy!" at this he tried to put him in a headlock. Riku tried to get out of it, but in the end, good ol' Uncle Gerrick, father of Riku's best friend, won out. Even Riku's mom giggled a bit when Gerrick gave the young man a good noogie.

"Hard for you to be his uncle and step-father at the same time, Gerrick." Riku's mom commented. Gerrick turned to her and replied with a warm smile. "Hey, Uncle Gerrick still has that ring to it. I'd refer to myself as his old man, but he already _has_ an old man." He came up and put his arms around his wife "That alright with you, Alice?" She smiled back and kissed him. "Ok, put it on ice you two." Riku said in his usual cocky manor. "I'm starving; Mrs. Makoto better have something ready for me, otherwise, I'd be _really _hurt." Gerrick sighed, and shook his head. "You know how she is. She prepared a feast."

Before I go on, I feel I must clairify some things about the adults on the Destiny Islands. Alice Hajime was the mother of Riku. I say "was" because she is now Alice Seijuro, wife of Gerrick Seijuro, and Sora's Step-mother. Riku's father was a military man, and was very serious about his career. Riku didn't really mind; him and his dad just made the most of the time they did see each other. But Alice was a sensitive and emotional woman, and after a tumultuous year of affairs, restraining orders and eventually a fast but harsh legal battle, their relationship ended. This was when Riku was 12 years old. In the following year, Sora's parents divorced. Sora's mom, Irina, had always been a free spirit. She was quite an artist and had a knack for verse, whether spoken or sung. Gerrick was an IT person at some big law firm in Honolulu, and pulled down good money ("it's those good ol' Japanese genes" he always said.), but Irina wouldn't have it. Her wild Siberian blood couldn't handle settling down on the Destiny Islands. And when Sora was 12, his parents split. A few months later, Kairi's adoptive parents, Tantano Makoto and his wife, Kishiria, got in a huge fight, and ended up splitting up,all a bit after Kairi's 12th birthday. They got back together, but not after quite a bit of drama and emotional pain.

The Trio agreed that 12 was their cursed number, and avoided it if possible. There were other bad things that were associated with the number 12, like Sora getting a 12% on a test, Riku breaking a window that cost $120 to replace, Kairi having 4 friends turn against her in 3 weeks, so it was generally agreed that the 12 was bad news, in any situation.

But back to the present, Riku followed his mom and step-dad across the beach, that same beach where he spent a lot of time, especially when he was smaller. They went inside, and up a flight of stairs, and to a hallway that led to the condos they all resided in during the summer. Through this door there were only 3 condos, because these where the original 3 vacation condos the 1st mayor built, when he came from Japan to America, and first settled the Destiny Islands as a sort of resort. The one at the end of the hall opened wide. "Ah, there's my boy!" a middle aged man with black hair, dark eyes, and altogether looked _very_ Japanese (emphasis on looked; he spoke perfect American English). "HE'S HERE, EVERYONE!" he shouted back. At that, three other teens rushed out to greet him. "Welcome home, Mr. Big Shot Hollywood actor." Titus said to Riku, giving him a hearty man hug. "Yea, man; you too cool to chill with us now?" Wakka added, doing the secret handshake him and Riku developed. Selphie rolled her eyes "You two and your little dance. And you're supposed to be more mature now that you've gone off on your own." Riku gave her a hug, and replied with a shrug "Hey, some things stay with a man all his life, be it a secret handshake, be it video games, or be it his freinds. Speaking of friends, where's the Destiny Islands little lovebirds?" Wakka shrugged "Dude, King Mickey stopped by in his fancy little ship one day. He talked just to Sora and Kairi, all secretive and serious." Selphie nodded, and continued "Next thing we know, Kai and Sora are all up in arms, saying they have to leave for a while. That was 2 months ago. One month ago, we got another letter in a bottle. In it, they said their business was almost finished, they would be home soon, and asked us just to forget this trip ever happened. And then…nothing."

Riku's brow furrowed "Now, that _is _strange…and considering this is the Destiny Islands, that's saying something…" It was true; strange things happened all the time on the Destiny Islands. One day, a traveler from another world might show up. A strange object, a beautiful, magical sword or a lamp with a genie in it, for example, might wash ashore. Most of the time, they were merely interesting, rather than frightening…that is, before the Heartless came to the Islands. Even now, Shadows lurked in the dark places of the Islands…Not enough to raise concern; just enough so that you didn't go into any of the caves unarmed. Though, one time, a large force of Powerwilds and Bouncywilds attacked the Islands. Luckily, King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, and good old Pluto were visiting. Daisy and Mickey supposed that the Heartless had been following their Gummi ship, and unfortunately left soon after, lest their presence attract any more creatures of the Dark. "Of course, you could have found that out if you _checked your e-mail _once in a while!" Selphie exclaimed. Riku put his hands up, in a 'not my fault' gesture "It's not like a have my own laptop, unlike _someone"_ he said, looking at Selphie. "Besides, I was busy as fuck back in LA, you have no idea; I was a bloody slave-"

"What are you kids waiting for?" Mrs. Makoto asked in her usual loud voice, interrupting Riku's thoughts. The short Malaysian woman made up for her height with a commanding attitude and a _lot _of personality. She was very kind though, and was considered by everyone deserving of her title; _Alma matter_. "You can talk about Sora and Kairi, Riku's job, whatever you want, _inside,_ over my dinner table. Now come, children. Dinner is served." Everyone perked up; her cooking was scrumptious, and for an occasion like a Son of the Islands coming home, every adult who cooked brought something. And from the smells radiating from inside, there was a feast inside. Everyone rushed into the Mayor's summer condo, and the revelry soon after could be heard from down the hall.

But outside, storm clouds where gathering. The sky became overcast and dark, but the wind was still as death. It was like the world was holding its breath, waiting for the hammer to fall. And suddenly, on the island where the paopu fruits grew, two black portals appeared. And out of those two portals, stepped two figures in pitch black robes, much like the robe another mysterious person who appeared to Sora two years earlier.

"Hmm, it is just as he left it…just as _they_ left it." Said the figure on the left, in an emotionless and obviously male voice. "That's the wonderful thing about this Island, according to _Kairi_" the figure on the right replied in a slightly amused and womanly voice, and saying "Kairi" disdainfully "It never changes." The young man on the left laughed, a cold and dark laugh "How boring. It'll be too easy to do our mission here. Heh, I'm almost disappointed Lord Aku sent us here." As he said this, he pulled down his hood, revealing a teenager with charcoal grey skin, very messy jet black hair (instead of spiking up and out, it hung down, covering his forehead), and yellow eyes with a tint of red, giving them an amber color. The young woman on the left took her hood down, and smirked at him. She also had charcoal grey skin and amber colored eyes (though hers where less red then his), but she also had indigo colored hair, and she had long bangs that covered her forehead and part of her face. "This _is _our first mission, Auros. I didn't think Lord Aku would have us do anything terribly difficult on our first field work. Besides, this is an experiment also, so-"

"He wanted a test subject more than a conquest." Auros interrupted, turning his head to her "I know that, Irika. But I get the feeling he doesn't really trust us, and this is some proving ground." Irika turned her head and shrugged. Then, suddenly, she turned her head sharply, as if she saw something out of the corner of her eye. "What is it?" Auros asked, raising his eyebrow. Then, he sensed it too. He smiled for the first time on his visit to the Destiny Islands. "Hearts of Light" he said "This is going to be fun after all." At that he snapped his left hand out, and in a flash of shadow, a sword appeared in his hand. It was an unusual looking sword, with a handle that was a little over a foot, and a scimitar-like blade about three feet long. She retuned that smile, and snapped out her right hand out, and in another flash of shadow, an even odder weapon appeared in hers. It was as tall as she was, even went up another foot. It was essentially a short sword attached to a spear handle, only not as crude as that description would imply. With both weapons, the blades where a dark steel, grey and cold looking. Both where finely crafted, and looked good enough to kill with. "Let's hunt us some Somebodies." Irika said with an evil look on her face.

Riku rushed out of the condo, and burst into his home next to the mayor's house. He had a bit too many of those delectable fruit drinks that his Step-Dad made all the time, and he did not know what it was about those things, but they passed right through everybody. Case and point, he was running into his condo to use the bathroom, followed by his step father. He came out a minute later, much relived, and then two figures, standing at the end of the hall caught his eye. Out of the door across the hall, Sora's former vacation home until their parents got married, (It was now a lounge for the teenage population of the Island.) came Wakka, also noticeing the two hooded and black robed figures on the other side of the hall.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Wakka, instantly suspicious. "It matters not who we are. It doesn't even matter who you are. It just matters what you know." The Male figure on the right said, pointing the scimitar in his hand at Riku. Both had their hoods on, and looked ominous standing at the end of the hall way. Wakka could have sworn it got darker when they stepped into the hall. Riku slowly reached his hand into his pocket, where a certain charm that looked a lot like his weapon, the Soul Eater, resided. The figure on the right, holding a pike-like weapon moved fast, bringing the weapon he/she/it was holding to his neck. "Don't try it, punk." her voice confirming she was a woman "Just answer; where is the Heart of this World?" Riku's eyes widened in realization "I wouldn't know something like that; and even if I did know, I wouldn't tell someone like _you_." He replied, looking into the black space where the woman's face would be. Wakka, taking advantage of the fact that his Nobody (when he was one) was a Samurai, drew a Katana in a flash of light, and brought it to the hooded woman's neck. The hooded man responded by rushing up to Wakka and putting his scimitar to his gut. "I'd think twice before you do something you might regret." Gerrick announced, emerging from his home with a 45 caliber Glock. At the same time, Alice emerged from her former home with a revolver, and took aim at the woman threatening her son. _Chuck-chick_, was the sound the two matching, double-barreled, 12 gauge shotguns made as Mr. and Mrs. Makoto stepped out of their condo with them in hand.

The hooded man responded with a harsh laugh. He nodded at his counter-part, and they both took their hoods down. Everyone in the room almost doubled over. "S-S-Sora…?" Gerrick stuttered. "Kiki…?" Mrs. Makoto said in a small voice, using her nickname for Kairi when she was little. The woman who looked like Kairi laughed coldly "Stupid humans. _SEIZE THEM!"_ Suddenly, White Knights appeared out of the ground and tackled the Sombodies in the room to the ground. "Blind fold them" The man-well, Heartless who looked like Sora ordered the rest of the creatures of the Dark. "They're obviously Heartless. Why else would they want the Heart of this World, or have yellow eyes and grey skin." Riku concluded in his mind "But why the hell do they look so much like Sora and Kairi? Why do they look _human_ in the first place?" As he thought this, the White Knight behind him tore off his sleeve and bound it around his eyes. "You have one last chance to answer us and make this easy on yourselves." The male Heartless stated "Where is the Heart of this World?" "We'd never tell you!" Gerrick exclaimed, and from the sounds Riku was hearing, he was struggling with his captor "We know what you want with it, we're dead either way!"

Auros sighed. "There's no reasoning with these people…" Auros said to Irika, looking over and projecting his thoughts to her. "What do we do then?" She responded, meeting his glance "Aku will have our heads if we come back empty handed. And we don't have enough man power to conduct a search AND keep watch over these prisoners, nor do we have the time to spare searching the whole god damn Island." Auros thought of something, and he passed the suggestion along to Irika. "It's evil, and effective." She nodded "I like it." Auros nodded back, then mentally commanded his Heartless to follow him. "Ok, you want to play hardball, so can we." Irika commented as the White Knights led the formerly feasting prisoners down onto the beach.

The blindfold came off suddenly, revealing much Riku already knew. He was kneeling in water, a little ways out from the beach, and he was still being restrained by the White Knight. "For looking so skinny and frail, they sure do have a strong grip." He mused to himself. He looked around to see everybody that was feasting upstairs was also kneeling in the water and being restrained by White Knights. His thoughts were interrupted by the woman yanking his head by the hair to face her. "You think you're tough, huh human?" she muttered "YOU THINK YOU'RE BADASS, don't you _Riku_!" she practically spat out his name, before shoving him under the water. She held his head under the water for a good 10 seconds before bringing him up for air. the water in his ears cleared just in time to hear the angry protest of his Step-dad and Wakka, and hear the terrified cries of his mother and Mrs. Makoto. "SHUT UP, WENCH!" the man barked as he backhanded his mom. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER, YOU SHIT!" Riku cried out, infuriated only the more when the backhand was followed by more abuse. In response to his struggles, the Heartless woman stuck his head under the water again. After a little longer in the water, he thankfully surfaced. By the fact that Gerrick, Wakka, and Tidus' hair was wet, he assumed they were also Waterborne by their White Knight captors. He surfaced just in time to see his mother and Mr. and Mrs. Makoto sunk under the water. Selphie was at the receiving end of a beating by the female Heartless, and the male Heartless came right up to Riku, and looked him in the eye. "You could end this, Riku. All of this is going on because you had to go and fight." He said in a low voice. "And now, your mother is going to pay for your folly." He walked over to Alice, grabbed her by her messed up silver hair, the hair she passed on to him, and put her under the water. Panic swept over Riku as he saw her thrash around under the male Heartless' iron grip. "NOOO!" as 10 seconds passed into 16, the thrashing grew more desperate, but still she was held under the water, and for a second Riku came to the conclusion that he meant to-

"OK!" he said, choking up "You win, I'll tell you where it is." He let her up, and she took a deep breath of air. The male Heartless smiled. "So spit it out; where's the Heart of your World?" he sighed, and looked at the rest of his companions. Gerrick and Wakka shook their heads when they looked at him. "Don't do it, Riku" Alice implored "Don't let them win." He looked down at the water in response. "They already have, Mom. They already have…" he muttered bitterly.

"I don't know for sure where the Heart of the World is; no one on this Island does." Auros frowned at this, but let Riku continue. "But I know, from Sora talking about his experience when the Island was first consumed, where it most likely is." Auros grabbed Riku by his collar. "Well stop wasting our time and tell me; WHERE IS IT!" Riku glared at the Heartless teen holding him up by his collar. "What will happen if I do tell you? What will you do with us?" Riku asked.

"_That_ would depend on how good your information is." A deep and powerful male voice came suddenly from the beach. Everyone turned to see a tall man, about 6 and a half feet, easy. He donned wicked looking armor; bright silver armor plates with black chain mail under the plates, silver spikes protruded from his shoulder, knee, and elbow plates, as well and on the tip of his boots. His Helmet was a standard medieval knights full face helmet, but the thing that stood out to Riku was his Amber colored eyes. Entirely human looking eyes, but they where the eyes of a Heartless, he was sure of it. "My lord." The two human-like Heartless gave a bow, the young man setting Riku down as he did so, and into the care of the White Knight that had been loyally standing nearby. The rest of the Heartless bowed their heads before their master, never losing their grip of their captives. "I am the Dark Lord Aku, and it is in my hands your fate resides." His yellow eyes inspected the prisoners. "I almost expected more of a struggle from the friends and family of the infamous 'Keyblade Warrior'. But I guess you all still are humans. And humans can be bent around a strong will…"

"You're monsters! All of you are!" Selphie shouted out before Irika shut her up with a good punch in the gut. "And what; we're not going to get away with this?" Aku asked mockingly "Of course an idealistic little girl like _you_ would say that. But all of you will need to face the bleak truth. _No one_ is coming to save you, or your precious little island. Not even your little friends, Sora and Kairi. The Beings before you are the combination of their Hearts, all of their memories, and pure, undiluted Darkness." He explained, motioning to the two robed Heartless. "No, I refuse to believe it." Gerrick interjected "There's no way a black heated bully like you can be my little prince." He said bitterly, looking at Auros. The Heartless smiled in response. "Why, thank you. I take pride in the fact that I bear no resemblance to my weak-kneed Lilly of a predecessor." "You'll never be half the man Sora was!" Riku shouted. "Sora was hero, you're nothing but a Heart stealing crook!" Tidus accused, attempting once again to break free of his bondage, and once again being restrained by the White Knight. "Heart stealing?" Auros turned to him and flipped his sword over. "Oh, I'll show you Heart stealing." At that, he twisted the lower part of the handle, and a 6-inch long spike came out of the end of his sword. "NO!" almost all of the Sombodies there shouted.

_Ssuck_. Auros, to most everyones horror, stabbed Tidus in the Heart. Irika looked on, mildly interested, awaiting what was to happen next. Aku pulled a clipboard out of nowhere and started to write on it. All eyes were on Tidus, and what a sight there was to see. It looked as though he was having a seizure in slow motion. His eyes rolled back into his head. His arms flailed around, his head twitched to one side, and he started to foam at the mouth. After a tence minute of Tidus having his seizure, Auros drew out the spike, and the White Kinght behind him stepped back, and disappeared in a ball of shadow. Tidus remained kneeling for a second, then fell forward into the water. "TIDUS!" both Sophie and Wakka cried as their good friend dissolved into a black dye in the water, then dissolved into nothingness. Auros stared at where Tidus was. "He is with the Darkness now, a complete and stronger being."

"You sick bastard…" Selphie muttered, tears starting to flow down her face. Riku clenched his fists, a surge of anger and power running through him "You won't get away with this…and you won't because I WON'T LET YOU!" a blast of purple-black energy exploded from Riku, destroying the Heartless holding him. Auros reacted quickly, bringing the Soul Cleaver down on Riku, but Riku reacted equally fast, drawing the Soul Eater from his pocket, and blocking Auros' attack. The White Knight's grip on Selphie slackened, and she took advantage, elbowing him, and freezing the water it fell in, using the magic she learned when she was a Blue Rhapsody. She then blasted the Heartless restraining Alice, knowing she was at one time a Dancer Nobody, and control over the water was the ability she retained.

The Silver haired woman didn't disappoint. She drew the water around herself, and released it in a big tidal wave, destroying the Heartless that restrained her loved ones. The rest of the residents of the Destiny Islands drew on the powers they acquired as Nobodies and Heartless, Mr. Makoto drawing the rifle of a Sniper, and firing on Irika. Mrs. Makoto sent several bolts of lightning at Aku. He blocked them only to have to defend against the claymore Gerrick had summoned. Wakka attacked Auros, saving Riku from getting sword to the neck.

Aku was between a rock and a hard place. His large, two handed, medieval sword made short work of beat back Gerrick, but just as he was about to finish him off, that infernal Indian woman sent am arc of electricity at Aku, knocking him back. He landed with a splash, and his head hit the muddy sand hard. As he tried to rise, he found the water around him frozen solid. "This would be the time where you give up, and run off to your evil lair." Sora's dad said confidently. "The only one running will be _YOU!"_ Aku's sword arm broke out of the ice, only to be seized by Mrs. Makoto. "Ah, ah, ah" she said, shaking her head. "You'd be surprised how much electricity can screw up the nervous system." She shocked his hand a bit, and he reflexively dropped the sword.

"You're abilities are impressive, for _parlor tricks_." He spat out. He closed his eyes, and took a breath. Aku continued in a low voice "the question is, can you stand up to REAL POWER!" a wave of dark energy exploded from his body, freeing him and sending his three opponents flying back a few feet. He charged Gerrick, and tackled him to the ground. After beating him up a bit, he lifted his right hand high in the air. "Now you see my true power; the power to remove Hearts!" Out of where his fingernails would be, 5 transparent purple claws retracted. He drove them into his opponent's chest, and ripped out Gerricks heart, in its full pink-red crystalline glory.

"GERRICK!" Alice shouted, leaving her engagement with Irika. The young Heartless woman tried to give chase to her, but was only attacked by sharp shards of ice from Selphie. Alice, with the help of the water that was her servant, jumped into the air, meaning to come down on the Dark Lord with the fury of a hurricane. But he simply met her in mid-air, sinking his claws into her. He pulled out her heart, and the water she controlled came rolling down. He let go of her heart, and left it to float over he still body. He looked over at his two servants just in time to see Irika stab Mr. Makoto in the heart with the other end of her spear, which like Auros' sword had a six inch crystal spike sticking out of it. Riku was bound in pitch black tenticles, and Auros was slicing Wakka with his blade. His final hit threw Wakka onto the beach, and before he could react, Auros stabbed Wakka in the Heart.

Selphie, seeing the battle lost, ran back onto the beach. "I have to get to the Talking Stone, I have to warn King Mickey!" was the only two thoughts going through her head as she sprinted up the beach. Suddenly, in a flash of shadow, Aku appeared in front of her. "Leaving so soon?" he asked as he sunk his translucent claws into her yellow T-shirt "What a party pooper you turned out to be. And you had so much spunk…" he tore out her Heart, and looked at the beautiful crystal in his hand. "I now hold in my hand the essence of your being; what was your name? Oh yes, it was Selphie. Anyway, I hold the essence of your being, Selphie. Though the human mind has certainly been of the most use to humanity, it isn't what makes the race of humanity special. Even a monkey can make a logical decision not to dive into a pool of water that is home to a lot of crocodiles. Nay, it is this Heart that is unique to humanity. Animals and other lower life forms _do _have hearts, but theirs are weak and primitive, not capable of feeling complex emotions, such as jealously, apprehension, and…" he sighed "…determination. This Heart drives Humans to make something of their lives, rather than just survive, like most of our neighbors in the many worlds out there. This Heart is what many a young man you know is after, the same Heart that beat with your mother's in the womb, the same Heart that gave you life and sustained you from the moment of your birth…is now _mine. _There are few feelings that compare to this: knowing that you now have_ complete_ control over a person, that I can kill you in an _instant…_and you not being able to even raise your voice in protest. _This_ is true power…true and unchecked power." He kneed down next to her. "How sweet a feeling it is. If only you could know it too…but, alas, this treat is one that cannot be shared. The winner takes the whole, and the losers get to watch me enjoy it." He got up off his knee, and looked to his prized warriors. The Indian looking woman was gone, so he presumed she had been Injected. Riku was still struggling with a Tendrils of Darkness Auros has bound him with. He approached his minions, who where bragging about their exploits to each other. "…so I did a flip, a 360 degree flip, and stabbed that Sniper guy in the back." Irika boasted, looking pleased with herself. Auros waved his hands dismissively "Bah, that's kid stuff. I could do a kill like that in my sleep. Now the way I dispatched the Indian woman, THAT was-"

"If you two are done bantering about the battle, we have a prisoner to interrogate." He turned to Riku, who glared at the Dark Lord venomously. "The tables have turned, my dear Riku. And don't bother asking how I know you name; I have my sources. Now, when I remove the Tendril covering your mouth, you are going to tell me this place where the Heart of your world most likely is." He waved his hand, and the tendril slithered from Riku's mouth. "NO WAY IN HELL I'D _EVER_ TELL YOU _ANYTHING! _You stole my friends and family from me-" Aku knelt in front of him and brought an armored finger to Riku's lips. "We're going to find the Heart of this World with your cooperation or not. If you do help us, we might spare you, and send you flying off in a Gummi Pod. If you don't, I shall see to it that you end up like your loved ones. And when I get back to my realm, I shall unleash suffering upon you like you have never felt in your life. Speaking of that, you two have some Hearts to Inject. If you run out of Darkness, let me know. These crystals have lasted longer then I predicted…" He said to the two Heartless behind him. They nodded and set off to their task. "So what is it, Riku? Honoring you sense of justice, or staying free and a Somebody?" Riku's face was full of resolve, and he was about to flat out refuse, until his mind interrupted him. "Don't be stubborn. They won, _get over it._ You need to watch out for yourself now; you're the only hope your friends and family have of returning to their original selves. You can't afford pride right now, _just tell him what you know._"

Riku swallowed his pride (though it didn't go down well…Aku was going to pay dearly for stealing his home.) "Ok…I'll show you where it is. But I want proof you'll keep your word." Aku stood up and snapped his fingers. A Wizard appeared before him. "Find a Gummi Pod, and bring it here, pronto." The Wizard answered with a salute, and teleported away. "I see the pod, AND your minions put away their weapons, I show you the place." Riku couldn't tell, but Aku smiled at this. "You're a hard bargainer, Riku. I like that in a man; shows he's not a gullible little fool. Think of the things you could achieve if you allied with a powerful Warlord like me." Riku was not amused at his offer. "I've been seduced by power before; I won't sell out my friends ever again." Aku stood back up, mentally shrugging. "Suit yourself. You'd be too much of a wild card anyways. We shall continue this conversation when your pod gets here. I'll be happy to have you out of my hair." At this, he teleported away in a flash, leaving Riku alone with nothing but the ocean and sand. He looked around, savoring this one last look at his home.


	6. Chapter 4: The Stage is Set

"Whoa…this is…magnificent." That was all Roxas could come up with to describe the space before him. And so it was. High, whitewashed walls, but adorned with gorgeous paintings, landscapes, and other pieces of art to liven up the walls. The Hallway they entered extended quite a ways left and right before turning into other halls. Right in front of them was a large double door, obviously an entrance to a large hall of some sort. "Hurry up, pretty boy! You can gawk at the castle when I'm not around." Elenar snapped, interrupting Roxas' thoughts. He noticed they had moved on from the very large and ornate staircase they had just come down. He quickly caught up with the other 3. "Sooo…I assume you are taking us to where we will be staying tonight, right Elee?" Lea asked cautiously. Almost having him shot really tripped Lea out; he was going to proceed with caution around this woman from now on. "No, I'm taking you to the torture chamber, Lea."Elenar remarked sarcastically as she briskly turned right at the end of the entry hall "Of course I'm taking you to your rooms! The existence of those two confirms our conclusions about our enemy, Aku. Their existence needs to be brought before the Council. It was a good decision to bring them to us, Lea. I know just what he's been planning now…"

"So what was the bullshit above ground about you being our only advocate in the Council?" Namine snapped. Elenar turned to her and smiled evilly. "Because it was fun making you tools sweat. I _never_ get to have much fun these days; it's all work for the League lately, and it get _really_ droll after a while. I haven't had as much fun like this in _forever._" Namine opened her mouth to give that bitch another piece of her mind, then Roxas grabbed her wrist and shook his head "Don't encourage her." He said in a low voice. Elenar looked amused "Smart move, Blondie. If only your girlfriend was as bright as you are…" and she walked on. Lea merely sighed. "I have a bad feeling about where this Namine vs. Elenar spat is going to end up…and of course, I'm stuck in the middle of it." he thought "Why God, must you put me in such difficult situations?"

Elenar approached a big crystal ball with a blob of blue-black stuff in it. "Hey…I remember these…" Roxas exclaimed suddenly "This is a Warp Ball! The Organization used them all over The Castle That-" "We know, dumb shit. You aren't the only former Organization member here." Elenar interrupted as she was busy touching the Orb, apparently setting it up for the Warp. "Now hold still if you want to keep all of your appendages." She pressed her hand into the Orb, and the goo in the Orb flowed out an enveloped all of them. Namine quickly grabbed Roxas' hand before they where swallowed into the Warp Orb.

Riku led his captors in to a little cave by the waterfall. His mind wandered back to when him, Sora, and Kairi where little. Oh, the hours they spent drawing on the cave walls…it was a favorite activity during the monsoon season, when the rain would come down in horrible droves, drenching you all the way to the bone. Now, all they where were reminders of more innocent times. He turned his mind away from such childish memories, and focused on the task at hand. "When the island was consumed the first time," Riku explained "Sora said this door burst open with a gust of Shadow. That, and Kairi was acting strange around it at the time, led me to believe that this door had some serious significance. And the only thing that I can think it could be is the Door leading to the Heart of this World. And it makes sense when you think about it; the Heartless where merely appearing all over the island before it was opened. After it was thrown open, the world started disintegrating into the black hole above the world."

Aku stepped forward, examining the door. He then spoke "And that girl Kairi was in a trance because her Heart was being consumed, or at least trying to be consumed. Your conclusion makes sense, boy. Now, to test your hypothesis." He threw both his arms back, unsheathing his Shade Claws. In about 4 seconds flat, he reduced the wooden door to a mess of splinters strewn across the narrow corridor in front of them. Without needing direction, Auros and Irika rushed down the stairwell. Aku confidently strided down the steps, followed by a semi-reluctant Riku. He knew what was going to happen when they consumed the Heart of the Destiny Islands, but he still wanted to be there when it happened. Whether a sense of nostalgia for his home or pure curiosity, he didn't really know. The fact was he followed the dark lord down the flight of steps, and into a fairly spacious cave, complete with stalactites and stalagmites, and even some stone columns starting to form. There was a pool of water opposite the entrance to the chamber, which Riku assumed led out to the reef underneath the island. But the main spectacle was in the center, naturally. Floating in the center of a colonnade of stone, was a giant Heart. It was mainly blue, like the sea surrounding them, but swirling inside it was a mix of green, red, yellow, and a whole assortment of bright tropical colors. A few moments passed in silent marvel of the Heart. Then, the Dark Lord started cackling. "I never would have guessed how beautiful and powerful a Heart of a World would be. If we can consume this, then all worlds will be ours." Aku took out his clipboard out from his cape. He then nodded to Irika. She responded by flipping her pike around, and and twisted the lower shaft. A crystal spike came out of the end, and she stabbed the heart. The Crystal filled with black goo, which started spilling into the Heart, like food dye flowing through water. The tropical colors of the Heart started glowing brighter, and started pushing the inky goo out of the Heart, some of it slopping down onto the stone columns surrounding the heart. Irika squared her stance, and thrust her crystal deeper into the heart. Auros also took out his crystal spike, and stabbed the Heart as well. Another ink stain flowed into the Heart, and this time the Darkness over took the Tropical colors. The Heart went black as midnight. Then, various other colors appeared, like maroon, purple, dark green, and filling in most of the Heart, an indigo blue. Then a blast of shadow emanated from the Heart, much like what happened to Sora in the cave two years ago, and also causing the Tendrils around Riku to disappear. A deep rumble went through the island, spooking Riku. "I'd run, Riku." Aku said as his lackeys entered a Corridor of Shadow with the Heart of The Destiny Islands. "This world is collapsing. If you don't hurry, then your skillful negotiating will be but in vain." Riku bolted up the stairway to the sound of the Dark Lord's cackle.

"Oh no you don't" Riku thought as the cave entrance collapsed in front of him. He drew the Soul Eater, and with a flash of a magically powered slash, freed himself from the cave. He exited the cave just as a boulder bore down on the entrance, and thus himself. He noticed it just in time, and rolled out of the way. On the beach, the tides drew back unnaturally far. "Tsunami" Riku thought. And sure enough, he spotted the giant wave on the horizon. His eyes widened, and he rushed to the brightly colored Gummi Pod, which was essentially a small cockpit with thrusters right below it. Riku scrambled up the small set of stairs to the skyward facing cockpit. He climbed in, and pushed a button on the fairly sparse control panel, closing the hatch. He looked up to notice the wave crashing down on top of him. Riku pushed what he reasoned to be the ignition button on the steering lever. The Gummi Pod instantly reacted, blasting up into the approaching wave. Riku closed his eyes and prayed he cleared the tsunami. It did so in short order, and he was soon blasting off into the blue-greenish space surrounding his world. He let off the thrusters and moved the lever to turn and look at his former home. He turned just in time to the world break apart into little pieces. "_Aku is gonna pay dearly for this, mark my words…"_ Riku thought bitterly. He then turned both his pod and his mind to other matters, like the looming question of _where_ he was going to go. He searched through the compartment under his seat for a map, and started plotting his destination. While he did this, his pod simply drifted forward, still moving from inertia.

"It's too late for a witch to have a change of heart" an imaginary Larxene sneered at Namine from her dreams. "You have no place in this world, Namine" Diz stated coldly from the recesses of her memory "You are _nothing; j_ust leftovers that the Heartless spat out." Suddenly, a vision of a demonic figure, with glowing yellow eyes and translucent purple claws, appeared in her mind's eye. "_You_ are but a pawn in my game; and _you _HAVE OUTLIVED YOUR USEFULNESS!" the demon grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her up off her feet. Then he started crushing her windpipe...she couldn't breathe, she couldn't do anything. Just the crushing feeling, closing in…

A scream came from Namine's room, just as Roxas was walking out into the hall where they were staying, yawning, still in the blue t-shirt with black sleeves and navy blue gym shorts that he was using as pajamas. "What the-Namine!" he thought, a surge of panic rushing through his body. He drew the Keyblade and cut through the door. "Jesus Christ…Roxas?" Namine turned to look at him. From what he could see of her, she was wearing a plain white undershirt. "You scared the shit out of me!" Roxas bade the Keyblade to disappear, and it did so, as he relaxed his posture. "Well, you screamed, so I thought you were in trouble or something." He came over and sat on her bed. "God…really Master Roxas?" A stereotypical English butler apparated on the other side of the small room. "You had to slice through the door? I'm happy to provide you two with fresh clothes, but I have limits to what I will put up with." The butler speaking was a Spirit who was the Caretaker of The Undercastle. He/she was once a resident of the Kingdom of Radiant Garden, but was killed during Xehanort's hostile takeover of the place (The Spirit couldn't remember whether it had been a woman or a man, nor remember much of anything about its life before its death. "It's amazing how easily something as critical to a person's Identity like someone's gender can be forgotten, especially when you aren't bound to a physical body" So, it took whatever form pleased it). It had haunted around Hollow Bastion for a while, before being magically summoned by Organization XIII. Then, it had been a currier for secret messages for the Organization, though his services mainly ended up being used by Marluxia and Larxene. After the Organization fell, it wandered around The World That Never Was until the League Summoned him once again. And now here he/she was, loyally serving his masters as the Caretaker for their stronghold.

"Well, she screamed. What was I supposed to think…by the way, what did happen, Namine?" Roxas looked over, some concern in his voice. The Spirit sighed. "Well, you're going to have to go over to another room while I repair this door. It's not a quiet process, and you defiantly won't be able to get any sleep while I'm working on it." Roxas looked over to the Caretaker and replied "We'll just sleep in my room. Right Namine?" Namine looked up, a little startled by Roxas suddenly addressing her. "Oh, yea, we can." She got out of her bed, revealing the plain little black shorts she was wearing. The Spirit looked at her, and he seemed a little concerned. He looked over at Roxas, and mouthed "Talk to her" and bade them farewell.

Roxas closed the door to his room behind him and asked, "So what's up, Nami?" Namine came up and embraced Roxas. "You don't think I'm nothing, do you Roxas?" she said in a low voice into his ear "I'm not just something the Heartless-"

"Of course not." Roxas said firmly, looking seriously at her "You aren't any of those things. Where did you get such horrible thoughts from?" Namine looked up at him. "Nightmares. Of Diz, of Larxene…but all they say…it's all true…it's all my fault…" Roxas felt his heart sink a bit in response to her blaming herself. "Not at all, Namine" he said, rather forcefully and shaking her a bit. Her eyes snapped in front of her, looking into Roxas' eyes as if she was waking from a trance. Her eyes where sad, and where on the verge of tears. "They're just cold and callous. They're just trying to tear you down, Namine. Whatever it was, it wasn't your fault. The Namine I know wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody…" Namine looked up at him. "Then you don't know me very well then, Roxas." She said (cutting Roxas pretty deep), looking and sounding melancholy "I took apart Sora's memories…manipulated them…manipulated _him_. And in the end, he still tried to protect me…gah, it's this guy I got to know back at Castle Oblivion. Manipulating his memories was the important assignment I had." Roxas' eyebrows raised, a thought coming to him "Sora…where have I heard that name before…? What did he look like?" Namine thought hard about it, but after a little bit, she shook her head "I haven't a clue. But…it doesn't change the fact that I'm just a witch…" she lowered her head in shame and sadness.

"God dammit, Namine!" he replied, quite angry. Namine snapped her head up, surprised at how forceful his response was. "Whatever the Organization manipulated you into doing is _not your fault._ You're not a witch, not some leftovers, you're…the only true friend I have here in this desolate wasteland. I don't know where I'd be without you here. Certainly a lot worse off, all on my own out here. You make me feel better about…all this that's happening." Namine smiled up at him, and she lightly kissed him. He smiled, and gave her a warm embrace. "You're what's keeping me sane out here, Nami." Roxas continued, then kissed her on the cheek.

Roxas and Namine both lay down on his bed, cuddling close together "Though…" Roxas paused, not entirely comfortable saying what he wanted to say. "What is it? Say it Roxas; you can tell me anything." Roxas then continued "…I… have those nightmares too. Like, I have flashbacks of Saix commenting on how useless I am, Demyx laughing at me for not knowing what the Blizzard spell was, and…even me struggling to learn how to talk. I don't know…it's like my mind is remembering things from the past…and it stumbles across these horrible memories…" Roxas looked up at the ceiling, staring off into the recesses of his mind. Namine grabbed his face, and turned him to look at her. "Don't think, don't wonder, just don't do anything except be here with me, Roxy. Our minds are just dark and confusing places now. But…it'll all get better, I _know _it will. We find our memories…and everything will make sense." Roxas closed his eyes, imagining the feeling. "Everything being clear…actually knowing yourself better than other people do…" he opened them, and looked at his lover, and just looked into her eyes. She looked so beautiful, so understanding…and she was _all his. _

The thought lit a burning fire of lust, and Roxas threw himself into it. Namine saw the change on his face, from a tender look to one filled with desire. And suddenly she was aware of how close they were to each other; her breasts right up against his chest, how his where stroking her back and her cheek, and how she was licking and sucking his fingers…in a flash, they defined the meaning of the phrase _sucking face_, only stopping when Roxas threw her undershirt across the room and kissed one of her boobs, playing with the nipple using his tongue. Namine wrapped her legs around him, as he was now sitting up, still kissing and nibbling her right boob and playing with the other using his hand. He bit down a little harder than before, and she loudly let out a breath, a breath a woman does when something feels good, and she wants more. God, how it turned Roxas on! He moved on to her neck, and this time held nothing back. She moaned from the pleasure/pain, and then Roxas' bite wasn't the only thing hard. Namine felt him through the two layers of clothes between them, and she wanted him. All of him, every inch of him.

She threw him down on the bed, and ripped off the shirt he was wearing, revealing his lean and muscular torso. She now licked his stomach, causing the muscles to tense almost involuntarily. She was working her way down when-

*_knock knock* _they both snapped up to find out what the knocking was. Lo and behold, a small plastic package was on the night table next to the bed. "Um…thanks?" replied Roxas to the room, and he reached out for it, but Namine got the package first (as she was on top of him), and took a, quarter sized latex thing out of it. It took them a second to realize what the thing in front of them was. Then they both burst out laughing. The thought of the Caretaker leaving them a condom was just- "Wow" Namine said, and Roxas echoed. Then Namine got an idea; a horribly delicious idea. Namine looked at Roxas, and could tell he was thinking the same thing. He smiled devilishly and said "You, my dear, wouldn't mind-" She gave him her own devilish smile, and replied "Oh, it'll be my pleasure."

"I've seen her, you know…she looks a lot like you. Beautiful and wild like the sea…then again, it _is _the namesake of you both, so there isn't any surprise there." The man in the robe of the Organization lit a cigarette, and took a puff of it. The light from the cigarette still didn't illuminate his face, as if his face was being kept in the dark magically. 'Then again, it could just be that it's really dark out here.' Irika thought, looking out to the dark sea. The beach they stood on was desolate: the water was as black as the jagged rocks behind them. "What do you want with me? I have things to do, and if you didn't know, Aku isn't a forgiving guy…" She questioned harshly. "Do you remember her?" She looked out at the sea, and replied "Yes, I remember Kairi. I remember everything…"

"Then don't you wonder why you aren't still on the Islands? Why you are where you are? Why you are _who_ you are…?" Irika turned back to him, and replied haughtily "Don't speak to me as if I don't know anything, you stupid fuck. I know that Aku filled the heart of that girl Kairi with darkness, and that is how I was born. I am the stronger version of her, better in every way." The man in the hood started laughing, and Irika called her weapon to her. "What's so funny, old timer? I'd be careful how you answer that question, by the way…" she pointed her pike at him. "What's so funny is how little you know; how much you're under the thumb of Aku. Put your weapon down, you insolent brat, I could end your life in an instant." Suddenly, the ebony handle became burning hot. She dropped it reflexively. She looked back at him, and smiled. "Oh, just because you can separate me from my weapon doesn't mean you're out of danger…" He suddenly responded by reaching out his palm at a nearby boulder. From behind the boulder, trapped in the sphere of the Gravity spell, Auros was levitated into the air and plopped down next to Irika. The two teens looked at each other, then the hooded man, taken off guard. "Your juvenile attempts to one up me are almost hilarious. An honest effort, but still meaningless."

Auros rose to his feet and replied "Alright, mister, you win. Now, why in hell did you drag us out to this wasteland? Or even better, who are you?" "My identity is not important. But if you must call me something, call me Xemnas." Auros laughed coldly "You're not serious. I clearly remember Sora defeating Xemnas in The Castle That Never Was." the hooded figure sighed and shook his head. "How little you know about the world. But I don't blame you two. Aku is anything but dumb, and he wants to keep you in the dark and under his thumb for as long as possible." Irika almost opened her mouth, but then realized how true his statement was. "We are _kinda_ his pawns, now that I think about it. But…he is responsible for our creation, so we do kinda owe him our loyalty..." Irika commented, thinking aloud. "And you can still be loyal to him. But I am simply here to give you the knowledge that he is withholding from you." They both eyed the 'Xemnas' suspiciously. "And why would you be so kind as to let us know this 'forbidden knowledge'?" Auros inquired.

"Why, you ask?" He toke a puff of the cigarette he had smoldering in his hand. The smoke stood out sharply against the inky black sea. "Because most of the Warlords that have set up shop in the Dark City forget that we all have a common enemy: the Realm of Light. They would prefer to squabble amongst themselves over a few worthless city blocks rather than marshal themselves against our foes. The forces of Light will not sit and wait for us to attack them; they will _burn_ every inch of The World That Never Was, and "fix" the problem that is the darkness. This is a struggle that spans the millennia. It will never end, nor will it be over till one side conquers the whole of the universe. In giving you this knowledge, I am furthering my goal to unite the forces of Darkness against the Light, just as it was under the guidance of Ansem the Great." The two teens were amused by his monologue. "So you're an idealist, huh? Well, I bid you good luck on your 'quest to unite the Darkness'" Irika said, imitating his voice. She snickered after, and Auros did the same.

"Xemnas" merely let out a breath of smoke, and tossed his cigarette into the sea. "You would be surprised how easy it is to manipulate people to do your bidding. But to the point; you two weren't the only products of Aku's little experiments. Specifically, there are two others: Roxas and Namine are what they go by, and they are the Nobodies of your hosts. Whilst Aku was tearing out the hearts and minds of your hosts, something happened that nobody could have predicted; their bodies went into a sort of 'emergency defense mode'. They held on to fragments of Sora and Kairi's mind and heart, and the fragments they held onto where the memories and feelings of their Nobodies, Roxas and Namine." The two teens looked at each other, thinking hard. "Yea…I do remember them talking about their Nobodies…but they always ended up talking as if they personally remembered the Nobodies actions…" Irika commented. "That's because that's the way this metaphysical stuff works. Once they, the Nobody and Somebody, unite bodily, they must unite in spirit and in mind. Once they unite in mind, they remember the memories of their Nobodies as if they where there themselves, just as you remember Sora and Kairi's memories. But the fact still stands; they exist, and are lodging with The League of Four, staunch enemies of your Lord Aku." Auros was taken aback by the whole situation 'To think, there's another part of myself running around…' Auros looked to the hooded man. "Where are they specifically?" Irika put her hand on Auros' shoulder "Why should we care about two Nobodies, Auros? We're perfectly fine the way we are now…" Auros turned to her "Think about it, Iree. There's another part of you out there somewhere. It's like, that hole in your heart was there just because you weren't _whole_ in the first place. All we have to do is find them, and unite them with ourselves. And that will make us more powerful, right?" he looked over to the hooded figure, with bright eyes. "I believe so…it's just that any new techniques and abilities they learned get passed on to you once you unite in body and/or spirit."

Auros continued "See? We don't have any reason _not _to try and absorb them. What's wrong with more power, Iree?" "Oh, it's just the fact that Aku might notice that we're gone, and come looking for us! And not looking for us as in 'Oh, you two had me soooo worried', I mean looking for us as if we're defectors!" Irika retorted "Sure, I'd love to go and find a missing part of myself, but I'm just not sure if the risk is worth the reward…" "Whatever you decide to do, I don't really care." The shrouded man interjected "But if you do go searching for them, they where last spotted entering the Undercastle, the League of Four's stronghold. Just know this; you will most likely have to fight your way to them. So if you go, be prepared for a battle, possibly with your counter parts." Auros grinned evilly "Oh, I don't mind a bit of violence…anyway, we should get going Irika." He called his weapon, and stuck the tip of the blade of his scimitar in the ground. A portal opened up from the point of his weapon. "This conversation isn't over, Auros…" she continued on, but her voice faded as they both entered the portal. It closed behind them, leaving 'Xemnas' to smoke alone.

A minute later, another portal opened on the other side of "Xemnas". Yet another hooded figure, in an outfit similar to his, stepped from the Corridor of Darkness. "And what purpose did that encounter serve? I'm not seeing the point behind all this, master…" the other hooded man inquired. "Rest easy, Isa, this is all going to plan…" 'Xemnas' replied "Soon, they will succumb to their natural instinct to try and unite their soul. It is the in a souls nature to try and unite itself again, so even if they both get locked away by Aku, they will find a way to get to the Undercastle. When that happens, Aku will be forced to act. He lets them go off on their own, he undermines his own fearsome reputation of being in control and in command. That alone would make him vulnerable to attacks and invasions by the other factions, and damage his ability to wage war irreparably. Of course, the League will respond in kind to Aku's brazen assault, especially on their capital. They will marshal the full extent of their resources to beat it back, and most probably perform a counter-invasion into Aku's territory. And thus, the dogs of war will be loose once again." Isa took down his hood, revealing his head of icy blue hair. "But why do we need to do this in the first place? Any fights in the Dark City will by and large be simple border spats. We have nothing to gain by-"

"We might not have anything to gain" 'Xemnas' replied "But our foes have much to lose, benefiting us in the long run. You saw first-hand the destruction and violence that can be caused if the other warring factions _really_ committed themselves to a fight. Only this time, it won't be _our_ turf getting devastated." Isa sighed, turned as if to walk away. He looked back at 'Xemnas', and said "I trust you, master, but this doesn't seem like a good idea from where I'm standing. Once the dogs of war are loosed, who's to say they won't come over and bite _us?" _A Corridor of Darkness sprang up from the ground. "It's just a feeling, but my gut is telling me this is going to quickly spiral out of our hands.", and Isa went through the black portal, leaving his master on the dark beach. The hooded figure simply turned around, lit another cigarette, and stared out to sea, engrossed in his thoughts and plans.


	7. Chapter 5: The Arrival of Bad News

"God, I hope I read that map right…" Riku thought nervously to himself, as he still was seeing nothing but assorted debris and more of that dammed blue-green space. A few times, he saw some Heartless/Nobodies flying around in packs, by which he responded by killing his engines, and hoping to God they thought his pod was another piece of debris. So far, it had worked, though there had been a time when a Nobody came closer to investigate the cockpit. He had played dead, and thankfully it had bought his ruse, and moved on. "But Jesus…" he thought "The sooner I get to the Disney Castle, the better."

He had decided on heading to the Disney Castle mostly 'cause the Gummi Pod barley had enough fuel to reach the Castle (he hoped dearly that his calculations where accurate, and cursed himself for flirting with girls all though his Algebra 2 class) and that King Mickey was his only real friend outside of the Destiny Islands. He hadn't been traveling around the worlds much (not like Sora at least), and when he had, it was in the service of Maleficent; a job not conducive to making friends. The only other place that was populated with people who could actually help him was Radiant Garden, and he didn't know the people there that well; they were more Sora's friends then his, plus the fact that the world is incredibly far away. So, his only realistic destination was- "the Disney Castle!" he exclaimed aloud as he spotted the World from far away.

Right as he said that, an explosion nearby rocked his Pod. He turned his Pod around just in time to see what he assumed to be a Gummi Warship. It was huge, and resembled a battleship, only it was wider and shorter then a water battle ship, and was obviously lacking the exposed deck. A message crackled in on the shortwave HAM radio attached to his dashboard; "Unidentified craft, state your purpose here or prepare to be fired upon." Riku recognized the voice as Chip's. He pressed down the broadcast button. "Hello? Chip? It's me, Riku. I really need you to-"

"Riku?" a voice interrupted from the background. Riku instantly recognized the voice as belonging to no one other then Donald Duck. "Riku, what are you doing all the way out here? Especially in a dinky little jalopy like that…"

"I'll explain everything once you get me to King Mickey. But first, I'll need to come aboard; you firing on me ruptured my fuel tank…" Donald laughed nervously "Sorry, Riku, how were we supposed to know that a random Gummi Pod would have you in it? Don't worry, I'll send out a retrieval team on the double. See you in the hanger." And with that, Donald ended the transmission.

"So, how have you and the gang been doing?" Donald asked as they walked away from the Gummi Pod and the retrieval Gummi Ship. "Oi, I have nothing but bad news from the Destiny Islands…"Riku said, in melancholy tone "The Islands have been swallowed in to Darkness, once aga-" "WHAAAT! HOW, WHAT, WHO-" Donald interrupted loudly. Riku went on to explain the happings of the last few months; Sora and Kairi getting whisked away by King Mickey, them telling the guys on the Island to forget the trip ever happened, Aku attacking the Island, consuming the heart of the Islands, and finally him landing that gig in LA. "Phooey. Last time I went to LA, I was swarmed by Disney fans. Bah, Walt Disney is a thief; he took all the credit for just retelling and animating me, Mickey, and Goofy's adventures. Gave us some bullshit about us 'never saying that he couldn't use the tales we told him as inspiration for cartoons!' Mickey and Goofy accepted it, but I still think the Disney Company owes us a lot more then the six-pence they paid to shut us up…" Riku nodded "Yea, and Disney's really gone downhill these days; all they really have now is tradition. They kinda phased you guys out of their line-up of shows. Hey, I'm all for giving new shows a chance to shine, but Disney channel has hardly any cartoons anymore! And the cartoons they do have…basically, if you want good 'toons nowadays, you just don't watch the Disney Channel."

As Riku said that, they arrived on the bridge of the Gummi Battleship, which Donald had informed him was called the _Kingdom's Keep_, after the stronghold of a Castle. Though an attempt was made to keep the colors of the Battleship uniform blue, white, and green, there were a few exceptions to the uniform. They were, however, well blended in, and often their placement looked intentional. The bridge was wide, but not high. However, the ceiling was round like a dome, adding a spacer feel to the place. The Captains' chair was raised above the semi-circle of operational computers, manned by a variety of creatures; most of them, however, where the magical brooms that King Mickey had in his service around the castle. There were quite a bit of exceptions though, making this ship seem more like it was in the service of Traverse Town, in Riku's mind. "Captain Pikley! Status report!" Donald barked at the raised Capitan's chair. The Chair swerved around, revealing a very pale yellow skinned, one-eyed alien, in full blue and gold naval brass uniform. He nervously snapped to attention, and replied "Holding course, Admiral, sir! Nothing notable, besides…well, the man beside you, sir." He stiffly nodded at Riku, still at attention. Donald grinned, and replied, "As you were, Captain." Pikley then ran up to Riku, and heartily shook his hand. "_You_ are Riku, _the _Riku? Well, my gosh, it's an honor to meet you! I've heard so much about you from His Majesty and the Admiral! I'm Captain Pikley, Commander of this fine vessel before you! Yes sir, she's my pride and joy; oversaw her construction from the moment the first Gummi Brick was laid."

"He was my first choice to command this vessel, as he was the only candidate with prior naval experience." Donald remarked to Riku. "Oooh yes, and I run a tight ship here!" Pikley said, his chest swelling with pride as he spoke "Just because this is the King's first and only battleship doesn't mean that were going to act like a rabble of brigands here! Oh no, this is a proper, regal naval-PETTY OFFICER STITCH! JUST WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR UNIFORM, SAILOR? And why aren't you at your post?" Donald and Riku looked back to the entrance to the bridge, to see that little blue creature that just arrived on the bridge, his uniform disheveled and cover with stains greenish in color. Stitch replied in his cutsey alien voice, "The starboard coolant tank is _still_ being a giant poo-face…we're'a gonna need all the help we can get." Pikley and Donald rubbed their temples in frustration. Donald spoke up "Why do a job right, when you can do it twice, no _three_ times now…Pikley, please, take care of this faulty tank as best you can. Alert me if you have to bring her in for repairs…again." Pikley saluted Donald, then commanded most of the bridge staff to follow him.

"Wow, ya think he can handle this? He seems a bit…jumpy…" Riku commented as some other crew members trudged down the hall, complaining loudly about how many bloody times they would have to fix this damn coolant tank. "He's just an anxious person, it's his personality. But he's a careful person, and has years of naval command under his belt. Not the most creative or charismatic, but he's one thing the King's fleet needs; he's professional. Speaking of the King, we must be headed off to his majesty's on the double." Riku looked amused "'On the double'? You've really let the rank of Admiral get to you, Donald. Soon you'll be saying 'As you where' instead of good-bye, '1600' instead of '4 o'clock'-" Donald punched Riku in the arm "(sigh) and I thought having a real job would tame your smart-assery, if ever so slightly…" Riku grinned mischievously "Really, Donald. It'll take more than a summer job to tame this asshole." "Oh, you wait until you have a woman in your life, Riku, she'll straighten you out…" Donald replied as he strutted off down the hall, and headed towards the hanger.

Roxas woke up into the darkness of his room. Well, his and Namine's room, technically, he thought with a grin as he reminisced to the passionate, wild sex they'd had last night. He didn't even know how it happened: he was looking into her eyes, she into his, and…boom. The lamps dimmed, lighting the room ever so slightly. Roxas smiled and thought "Keeper, you're a good person, and I thank you for your hospitality." A breath of air swirled around the room, carrying the words "You're ever so welcome, lover boy." Roxas looked over to his companion, who was just waking from her slumber. She wrapped her arms around his bare body. "Mmmm…morning, you stallion…" he kissed her on the forehead "Morning to you too, gorgeous."

Suddenly, a purple-black orb formed in the middle of the room, scaring them half to death. Before they could react, Elenar's face materialized in the orb, her face about the size of a Big Rig wheel. "So, you two are finally up. Good, because we need you two up in the Great Hall. You know, that big door you passed on the way down there. Yea, get some clothes on and get your sorry asses down here." The orb disappeared, just as suddenly as it had appeared. Namine was a concerned, and as she was getting dressed (Caretaker anticipated Elenar, and there where clothes on the desk) she voiced this worry: "That didn't sound good. She was all serious and everything, didn't even take a crack at us in bed together." Roxas nodded as he slipped on the shorts, and said nothing, which told Namine more then what he could have said.

The two blonde Nobodies came into a large hall, decorated with very self-centered paintings, depicting the members of the League of Four battling heroically or posing of portraits of themselves. There was a semi-circular table, raised a few feet above the floor, and at it, sat the League: Braig, Rudolf, Elenar, and Marlian. Lea sat at the end of a row of three chairs set up of them. "Take your seat, we have much to discuss here." Braig coolly. Roxas and Namine obeyed, and sank into their chairs nervously. "Lea has elaborated your predicament thus far, and I speak for all of the League in saying we almost feel sorry for you."

"Maybe not the whole League, as I don't feel sorry for them very much at all." Said Marlian "Aku let them go for a reason, and the none of the possibilities are very good…"

"Still," Elenar interjected, "Aku has an interest in them for a reason. We've all noticed that Aku has been keeping to himself lately. We also know, through my work, that Aku has been venturing into the Realm of Light. The existence of these two proves that he's collecting hearts. For what reason, I don't know, but that's what he's doing. So, I elect that we keep them here, and see what Aku does…"

"What about the diplomatic path? If he does have an interest in them, we could bargain with him. He has plenty of things we want, and I'm sure he wants these two-" Elenar interrupted, haughtily rebuking Rudolf, saying that if Aku wanted them that badly, he could have just kept them. The Semi-circle broke out into one big argument over Aku's intensions, and how Roxas and Namine could be useful.

Though, Roxas had stopped listening, because he suddenly felt strange.

His hearing was fading, the voices of the League becoming nothing but murmuring. He felt something, something building inside him…energy, a screaming clump of energy, bursting out of him. Involuntarily, Roxas looked up, opened his mouth wide, and let a white-blue beacon of light burst forth. He coughed a few times, and he heard Namine doing the same. "Fuck!" was all Elenar could say before two figures apparated in front of the two blonde Nobodies.

"Well, well…" the hooded figure (who was indeed Auros)in front of Roxas said "Look who we found."

Just then, more shadows (most being the Heartless Shadows) flashed across the floor of the hall. "Yes indeed, look who we have here." Aku, the Dark Lord everyone was talking about, said as he apparated right behind Auros and Irika. He put his hands on their shoulders, in a fatherly sort of way. Auros and Irika willed their weapons into their hands, not helping Roxas' and Namine's rising sense of panic.

"Now, now, children, Daddy Aku doesn't like it when you run off and use his magic without his permission…which is exactly what you just did." Aku said, the false friendly voice he had been using falling into a menacing growl.

"Oh, I think your 'children' are the least of your problems, Aku." Marlian interjected, him and the League drawing their weapons. Not a moment later, a troop of Dusks apparated into the hall, a little less in number then the horde of Shadows that had accompanied Aku.

"Oh, it never fails. I'm up shit creek once again. Well, this ought to be at least interesting…" Lea thought bitterly. Some of the Shadows formed a semi-circle around him where he was standing by the giant doors at the entrance to the massive hall, and he willed his staff to come to him.

"I wasn't talking to you, Nobody lover. You should learn to speak to your superiors with respect." The masked man growled at the League member behind him. Elenar interjected haughtily "When I find someone who _is_ superior to me, I'll be sure to remember that!" on the last word, she lunged at Aku. The Dark Lord caught her with his gauntlets, and all hell broke loose.

Roxas and Namine didn't waste any time; they booked it out of there as fast as they could, blasting and slicing through Nobodies and Heartless indiscriminately. They had just reached the door, when Marlian jumped in the way, his Scythe gripped tightly. "_You_ two aren't going anywhe-"

He was interrupted by Lea blasting him out of the way with a well aimed Fire Blast. "Alright, lets blow this popsicle stand." The three of them quickly rushed out of the hall, only to have to run through a horde of Dusks and Shadows, quickly mustering at the call of their masters.


End file.
